Erased
by becoafamu
Summary: AU. A series of high-profile criminals with very unusual abilties have begun to go missing. Sora Strife, a high-profile-criminal enthusiast not lacking in special abilities himself, finds himself caught up in the middle of it. SoRiku AkuRoku Cleon Zemyx
1. Chapter 1

* * *

This fic was inspired by Joss's new show Dollhouse, and then snowballed into a crazy Dollhouse/Buffy/Nightwatch/X-men/Watchmen/lots of other things with a very gratuitous Megaman reference thrown in. All standard pairings apply- will be Sora/Riku, Axel/Roxas, Demyx/Zexion, and Cloud/Leon, and whoever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy!

* * *

The small German boy snarled as a taser jabbed into his back. He spoke no English, so his holders were forced to communicate with him in the universal language of violence. _Hey kid, _they were saying. _Time to go. _Dust fell from his filthy prison-issue jumpsuit. He eyed the guards warily. Six of them- too many to take on by himself. His hands and ankles chafed in chains.

He was ushered out of his cell, and through a series of identical hallways. The low-watt institutional lighting made the skin on his hands look translucent. The group arrived at a high-security door, and one guard punched in a code and submitted to an eye scan. Two more electronic doors and an elevator later and he found himself standing in what appeared to be some sort of technological center. Monitors blinked and flashed all around him. The floor was composed of open grating that exposed an elaborate series of glowing tubing and wires that combined with the monitors to provide the only lighting for the room. He wondered if that was really practical, or if his captors were just going for a James Bond feel. Or possibly ran out of budget for flooring. The spy in him itched for the chance to find out what information this room was protecting.

Two guards grabbed his elbows, and announced themselves. He heard his name.

"Sir. Here is Rock."

"Very good. Hook him up." Rock didn't understand the words, and struggled when the guards pushed him towards the massive computer. He was shoved forcefully into a small alcove. An intimidating piece of equipment hovered over his head, beeping and clicking as a technician tapped something into a nearby terminal. The guards strapped him in, effectively trapping him inside the dangerous-looking piece of machinery.

"Rock Mann." The assumed leader of the bunch stood in front of him and addressed him by full name. He sized the man up. The technicians all wore lab coats, but this man was dressed to kill. Based on the cut of the suit, he clearly had money. Rock was impressed, in spite of himself.

"I'm sorry." Those two words he understood, and he glared. "I'm sorry, but it's been decided by people bigger than either of us that you are simply too dangerous to exist." Rock's eyes narrowed. He wished with all of his being that his instructors had bothered to teach him English. But no, they'd said. Their excuse was that it would be too easy to question him, but that was bullshit. They just didn't want Rock to have access to the information he was stealing. Better to stay as mute as possible. He was only a glorified delivery boy. No need for analytical abilities.

The tech at the terminal triumphantly punched the last few buttons. The huge device above Rock's head whirred into action, sounding for all the world like an airplane preparing to take off. The wind whipped his shaggy blonde hair around, blocking his eyesight and almost deafening him.

"_Tschüß_, Rock."

The boy cried out as a blinding light erupted from the machine and shot into him, splitting him in two. The pain was unbearable, but at the same time strangely far away. He was split again, and again, and again, smaller and smaller, farther and farther away, until finally his pieces were so light that he was lifted upward, and sucked into the computer. The room fell silent.

After a few brief moments, the main terminal leaped into activity. A young girl's face appeared on the largest monitor, smiling out at them.

"Hello, DIZ Team. I have received a new member. Input specifications now."

The technicians all clapped appreciatively, thrilled at their success. The man in the suit nodded to his staff. "You know what to do. Re-make him American, like usual. Easier that way." The head tech walked over to the main control center and began a flurry of typing, a series of motions she'd clearly been through before.

"Input received. Nobody Number 13. Code-name: Roxas."

* * *

_Hello, class. We have a new student today. His name is Roxas. Welcome Roxas._

* * *

Every day, right when he woke up, Sora Strife broke open his computer and checked the World News. He skimmed the headlines, not liking what he saw. Famous professor releases work on Old New York… boring. World President to give speech… boring. Ooo, a hurricane? Damn, appears to be result of natural causes. He groaned and closed his laptop. It seemed like there hadn't been a real terrorist attack in _months_- where did they all go?

"Hey, Sora. Quit your morbid death-obsession and come eat breakfast." The only person who knew of Sora's habit was his brother-_cum_-roommate, Cloud.

"Coming, bro," Sora said quickly. He stretched out his wings as much as he could and fluttered down to the floor. His "bedroom" was more of a closet, so Cloud had gone out and bought him a loft bed to give him more floor space. Now that Sora was 18, he was free to go as he pleased, but he stuck with his brother because he had nowhere else to go. People like him weren't exactly welcomed in everyday society.

You see, Sora was a prime example of what normal people had dubbed _Others_. Humans born with abilities above and beyond the normal range. Despite being full brothers, Cloud was a human of the standard variety, but Sora was not so lucky. Over time he had grown a pair of massive feathered wings, which were now so big they couldn't even be hidden. Sure, he could fly, but what was the use when half the city of New York would just as soon shoot you down as look at you?

He crunched his wings and squeezed through the door, immediately arriving in the tiny kitchen. Cloud shoved a paper plate at him, laden with a basic cheese omelet. The two boys didn't have a dishwasher, so they'd given up on real dishes. The apartment was so small that their "table" was a standing-room-only piece of wood that folded down from the wall and blocked the main hallway. After their parents' death, Cloud and Sora had made a decent sum of money on the sale of their family home, but since finding steady work was difficult in New York City and quite impossible in Sora's case, they cut every cost possible to stretch what they had. Sora squished an especially bold cockroach with his toes.

"So. Any attacks?" Cloud asked conversationally. It had taken a long time, but he had finally accepted that his brother was going to be one of _those _kids, like the people who spend all of their time reading up on serial killers.

"Nope. Still none." Sora scraped cockroach bits off of his feet. While most Others stuck close to the ground and tried not to be noticed, over the past few years, a series of powerful Others with very strange abilities had begun to stage their own violent publicity stunts, in some cases even getting hired by regional governments. _These_ attacks were what fascinated Sora. He had always struggled to hide his abnormality- he couldn't imagine using his powers to go out and kill people en masse.

"No news of your _boyfriend_?" Cloud teased. Sora blushed. His brother was referring to Sora's favorite terrorist, Démé Desmarais of former France. Démé's power over water had caused droughts on every continent and sewer breakdowns in every major city. When he'd attacked New York City, Cloud and Sora's bathroom hadn't worked for more than two weeks, and Sora had been so excited he didn't even care. He would wait in line to poop at the grocery store in exchange for Démé in New York, any day. Unfortunately, Démé Desmarais had been inactive for several months. Sora hoped he wasn't dead, or worse, caught. Though he figured that if such a famous terrorist had been caught, it would have been all over the World News. So, for him if no one else, no news was good news.

"I'm going to the church today- you're welcome to come with if you want. Leon might need help." Sora perked up immediately. Cloud's best friend Leon's church home was almost the only place Sora was allowed to go outside of this dingy apartment.

"Yessss! Let me just get dressed." Sora shoved the last of his omelet into his mouth and rushed back to his room. All of his shirts were standard pack-of-3 tank-tops with large sections of the back cut out for wing comfort, so he just picked a color and pulled it over his head, then swapped out his sweat pants for jeans. He ran back out and crashed right into Cloud, who was brandishing a thick belt, and some rope for back-up.

"Can't I just fly there?" Sora whined.

"_No_, because people would try to kill you," Cloud muttered, more to himself than Sora. Sora felt a pang of guilt. Having such an obvious Other in the house had to have been difficult, but Cloud never complained. Sora had gotten through most of school by securing his wings around his midsection, wearing baggy clothes, and eventually by telling everyone he had a back brace, but after his 17th birthday the growth of both his body and his wings had accelerated, and they were now simply too big for that to work. The twin white wonders arched high over his head, and swept down past his knees.

Sora obediently folded his wings over his shoulders, as tightly as he could. He couldn't move his arms this way, so hopefully he wouldn't need to. Cloud belted the offending appendages in place. When the belt buckle began to creak with strain, he grabbed the rope and tightened it around him several more times. Satisfied with his handiwork, he then wrapped a loose cloak around Sora's body.

"Cloud, it's _summer._"

"No one ever went crazy and shot someone inappropriately dressed."

"I know, I know! But can't we at least try to find me a mumu or something? This is made out of _wool,_" he groused. Sweat messed up his feathers.

"I'm taking you outside, aren't I?" Cloud snapped. He was much more irritable than usual. Sora panged again. His brother didn't have to do _any _of this for him- he could have just as easily left him to flee to the country and live off of bunnies with the other hawks.

"Aw, squirt, I'm sorry… You know I don't mean it… It's just, Leon said he had a job for me," he sighed. Sora nodded in understanding.

"Well, let's go, then."

Sora's hatred of the wool cloak intensified the moment he stepped outside. The lower east side neighborhood where he and Cloud lived was too poor to afford foliage, so protection from the brutal sun was practically nonexistent. A couple dead trees, pathetic casualties from the war, provided meager shade to abandoned pets. High above Sora's head, the city's Atmosphere Purification Devices floated among the clouds, processing the oxygen that would support the citizens of New York City. Unfortunately, the APDs were never enough. Besides New York's high birthrate, thousands of people from the barren countryside flooded into the city every day. Who had known before the war that oxygen would become such a precious commodity? The sky was a sickly yellow color, the air tasted like fire, and Sora was feeling a bit suffocated.

Cloud deftly steered them through the crowds in the streets, accommodating for his terrible sense of direction. No one drove cars anymore- no need- so the entire street was packed with people. Tired workers clothed in brown and grey, heads down, always in a hurry to nowhere special. Despite his funky cloak-in-summer, Sora blended in perfectly. Cloud cut a direct path across Union Square, heading north, his little brother dragged along behind him, overwhelmed as usual by the sights and smells outside of the tiny apartment. The heat was beginning to drag him down, and his breath came shorter and shorter.

"Cloud," he gasped. "Water." He was sweating so hard, the liquid was dripping and pooling at his feet. Cloud grumbled a curse at the oversight, and pulled him over to a street vendor to buy a bottle. $11.50. While he was digging through his pockets for the bills, Sora stood on a subway grate, letting the hot breeze dry his ankles and listening to the rumbling train. He'd heard that people used to actually _ride _them. These days, the subways were only used to transport goods and materials. Staying underground long enough to actually ride across town could be a death sentence. Cloud finished paying, and fed him the water as one might a dog- holding the bottle while Sora sucked on it thirstily. The man at the bodega eyed them suspiciously.

"Somethin' happen to your arms, kid?" Sora jumped, spilling precious water all over his face and neck. Cloud scowled.

"Mind your own business. C'mon, So." Cloud tugged him roughly. A little too roughly. Sora stumbled on the sidewalk, causing the cloak to swirl up, revealing the very tips of a small bunch of porcelain white feathers. A tiny movement, but more than enough. The bodega man gasped, and slammed down his grate, fumbling for some kind of weapon. The loud movements caught the attention of several passers-by.

"Get away from my store," the man warned harshly, brandishing a rolled-up magazine from behind the metal mesh. When the two boys didn't react, his voice raised to a shout. "FREAK! Get away from these people!" Sora could hear the gasps and feel the eyes on his back as he and his brother fled. Hot tears mixed with the water already marring his face.

"Ignore them, Sora," Cloud said desperately. _Yeah. Easy for you to say._ A panhandler threw garbage at him and shouted obscenities as they passed.

At a run, it took them five more minutes to reach Leon's church, desperate for air. The beautiful old building had been bombed during the war, leaving a huge hole in one half of the ceiling, but other than that, it was in pristine condition. Ivy covered the walls, a shocking punch of green in the colorless city. No one had ever bothered to demolish the church, and no one knew who owned it, so Leon had just moved in. The tiny sign next to the door was almost impossible to find unless you were looking for it- _S. Leonhart. Private Detective._ Cloud let himself in without knocking.

"Leon!" he yelled, instinctively remaining in the tiny patch of light caused by the hole in the ceiling. Sora fidgeted uncomfortably in his ropes. The sweat and the wool were making his entire body itch unbearably. His hands twitched.

"Cloud, please, you need to-!" He was cut off abruptly by the appearance of Leon, a well-built young man the same age as his brother, skulking out of a back room and shying away from even the limited light. You see, Leon was a vampire. A condition that would plague him for life, not that he didn't go to extensive lengths to hide it. The S stood for Squall, picked out by his vampire mother during the war. Leon had abandoned his given name as soon as she died, deriding it as "too vampy." Cloud had pointed out that his own name was less-than-conventional and it didn't bother anyone, and Leon snapped back that since he was human, he could afford to be uncautious. Cloud hadn't spoken for a long while after that.

"Hey, guys." Leon leaned against the wall in the back, the darkest part of the large room. Cloud grinned, stepped into the dark, and gave his friend a huge hug. Leon looked a little embarrassed, but happy. There was something going on there, but right now, Sora was in too much distress to think about what it was. Cloud didn't notice.

"Hey, Leon. Hope we didn't get here at a bad time?"

"No- I was just, uh, eating." Leon scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. Sora couldn't take it anymore. The heat and the itch had been crawling from his toes to his head, and the sensations finally became unbearable. He cried out and collapsed, body going into spasms, lurching into a full-on anxiety attack. Birds weren't meant to be tied up and left in the dark! The sky seemed so far away, barely visible through the hole.

"Shit, Sora- God, I'm sorry, squirt, I completely forgot!" Cloud frantically pulled off the cloak and unsnapped the belt, while Leon ran to grab a knife and chopped through the rope. Sora's wings unfurled with enough force to send both of them sprawling, and he frantically began scratching. The air inside the old church whipped into a tornado of dandruff and downy white feathers. He thrashed around like a dog after a bath, ridding himself of every last flake of irritated skin while Cloud and Leon watched in awe. No one could help but be awed by Sora. Even without his wings, he seemed to produce light itself. A true angel. When he finished grooming himself, he collapsed onto the floor, resting on his knees, exhausted, ruffled feathers slowly righting themselves. The two friends glanced at each other, an unspoken message transferred between them.

"Sora… I don't really know how to say this…"

"Cloud wants you to live here," Leon said bluntly. Cloud shot him a glare, Leon shrugged, and Sora looked up at his brother in shock.

"Listen, squirt. I… I love you more than anything." Cloud's voice dropped to a whisper. "You're all I've got in this world, and you know that. Which is why I can't keep you trapped in that tiny apartment anymore. I'm sorry you found out this way, but I can save more money for both of us if I have roommates, and, well, with you around, roommates aren't really an option." Sora's eyes filled with hurt. Cloud hurriedly backtracked. "No, no, not like that! It's just. Sora, the money situation is _bad. _Really bad. I've tried everything I could think of, and I can't afford to hide you anymore. And, Leon and I've talked about it and he says you can live here and work with him. Finally have your own job, something to do, you know? And, he _knows_ people. People like you. You shouldn't have to be alone all the time, stuck with your stupid big brother." Cloud's voice was painfully sad. Leon turned away, giving them both space. "I'll still come visit all the time- it's not like I'm leaving the city. And I'll still send you money. As much as I possibly can." Sora was completely silent. Cloud gave Leon a pleading look, asking him to say something.

"Hey, kid, it's not so bad here. Like he said, I need an assistant, and you can meet some Others. And look, you even have your own door," he joked, pointing upwards. For the first time, Sora brought his eyes up to meet his brother's.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" he asked quietly. Cloud sighed.

"No, Sora, you really don't. You can't live with me anymore. We can't afford it. That's… well, that's pretty much it." Sora was unbelievably hurt. If money was such a huge problem, why hadn't Cloud spoken to him about it before? He wasn't a _kid_, a helpless little orphan needing to be taken care of anymore_._ They could've figured something out together. But instead, he was being unceremoniously dumped on his brother's best friend, with barely an explanation.

"Fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it." He flashed an apologetic glance at Leon. "No offense, Leon." The dark man smiled at the gesture.

"Make yourself at home. You can decide where you want to sleep. The bathroom and kitchen's upstairs in the back where the priest's apartment used to be, but watch out for all the frozen blood." He went off to finish his lunch. An uncomfortable silence settled between the two brothers.

"You gonna bring my stuff someday?" Sora asked softly.

"Yeah. I, uh… we wouldn't have been able to bring both of you at once," Cloud said miserably. Fine by Sora. Let the asshole suffer. This trip to Leon's, that had seemed to exciting just an hour ago, had gone sour much more quickly than usual.

"Please just go." Cloud opened his mouth as if to apologize, thought better of it, and left in a hurry. Sora looked around at the church's dusty interior. This was his home now, so, better get used to it. With a sigh of resignation, he flew up to the rafters, and started searching for a place to set up a mattress.

* * *

That same night, in the same city, a few miles away, Riku Hikaru was sneaking off of a freighter. He pulled the hood of his jacket further over his head. No need to let anyone know what he was, just yet. Probably he'd already broken about sixty World Nation laws- his kind was pretty universally prohibited from crossing _city _lines, let alone continental ones. But with some careful timing, he'd managed to stowaway all the way to the former United States. He supposed that meant the hardest part was over.

As soon as he was a safe distance from the docks, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a lighter and a box of cigarettes. Too risky to light up on the ship- if anyone had found him, he would have had to kill them. Thank God it hadn't come to that. He leaned against a dumpster and took a long drag on the cigarette, instantly calming his nerves. He'd dipped into his dad's secret stash of Lucky Strikes for this, but it was completely worth it.

"Hey. Hey, you." Riku sniffed deeply. Adult human male, overweight. Unwashed. Armed. "Pretty boy. Nice clothes you got there. Should you really be down here this late at night?" Riku chose to ignore the threat implicit in the last sentence.

"Go away," he said dismissively, flicking some ash off the end of his cigarette.

"Oh-ho-ho. Feisty." Riku heard the man pull out his knife. "Howsabout you just give me all the money you have, and I let you go, ok, kiddo?"

"I don't have any money," he answered honestly. He hadn't had any money in Japan, either. Money didn't really have a place in Riku's life.

"How'd you get those nice clothes, then?" The man was close enough now that Riku could see the knife gleaming through the darkness. "Even I can tell those cost a pretty penny."

"_Please _go away," Riku muttered. This guy was irritating him enough that he was going to have to smoke another cigarette. He'd been in New York for less than twenty minutes, and he was already behind schedule. Besides, they didn't even _make _Lucky Strikes anymore. These cigarettes were a precious commodity. Riku's temper was quickly getting the better of him.

"Oh-ho! And what exactly are you going to do to me if I don't, pretty boy?" Riku reached up and pushed back his hood. The smell of fear flooded his nostrils. The man shrieked and ran away as fast as his portly body would carry him. Well, that solves that problem. He replaced his hood, and pulled out another cigarette.

_You're in this city somewhere, and I'm going to find you._

* * *

Early the next day, Kairi Smith nursed a bottle, leaning over her work terminal. Sure, she was drinking earlier than usual today. But hey, she was a master programmer. People _always _program better when tanked, right?

"Kairi. You should not be drinking so early in the day," a familiar voice admonished. A smile broke out on Kairi's face.

"Oh, Naminé. You're always worried about me."

"I have to be." Naminé's face appeared on a monitor near where Kairi was sitting. The blonde girl's expression was blank. Of course it was. She was a computer program.

"Wow, Nam, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," Kairi giggled as she tucked her empty beer bottle into her purse. She was the best technician on the DIZ Team, but even that may be overlooked if she were caught boozing at work. Her job was immensely frustrating, and the lab's crappy floor lighting made it _look _like a bar- she really just couldn't help it. She had asked about getting some real lights, but apparently the goal was to keep the flow of electricity to the room as low as they possibly could, considering the sophistication of the equipment. Top-secret lab and all that. Which brought Kairi back to the top-secret job she was supposed to be doing.

"Naminé. How is Number 13? Is his re-programming still solid?"

"Yes. He is acclimating to the TTA well. The program is on schedule."

"And Number 12? Any problems?" Nobody Number 12, code-name Larxene, was in actuality Chilean thunder goddess Lola Guerra. Kairi had been vehemently opposed to uploading someone who could manipulate electricity into a computer program, but unfortunately, she had been overridden. Her boss in so many words had told her she'd either make it work or lose her job. And Kairi couldn't afford to lose her job. She had thought that creating the Naminé system would guarantee her employment for life, but apparently not. God knows what the head of the DIZ Team was looking for in his employees.

"No problems. She is contained."

"Good. Can you print out today's stats for me?"

"One moment please." Kairi leaned back in her chair and rolled over to the enormous machine that was really just a glorified printer. The chair creaked, and she almost fell. Mental note number two- new chairs. Chairs didn't use electricity, so he couldn't complain.

The printer was painfully slow. Minutes dragged by and it had barely gotten through the basics. _Nobody 1, Zaim Abbas. Code-name Xemnas. Place of Origin Morocco. Age 34. Ability Energy?. _Kairi smiled a little bit at the question mark. Years of captivity and testing, and they still had no idea what his powers were.

Numbers flashed as the printer sped up, spewing out all manner of information on Xemnas's physical condition, numbers from heart rate to white blood cell count. Kairi took some idle notes in her book, but already knew what the records were going to say. Xemnas's body was perfect. The problem was his mind. The first five subjects had been trapped inside the system for so long, with near total lack of unpredictable stimuli, that they had become stagnant, barely human at all. Zaim Abbas had ceased to exist, and Xemnas had become part of the machine that contained him. The computer moved right along to _Nobody 2, Botan Shimizu._ _Code-name Xigbar._ _Place of Origin Japan. Age 41. Ability Teleportation, Lycanthropy. _Fixing the computer to contain a full-grown werewolf had apparently been a complete nightmare- it had been done before Kairi joined the team. _Nobody 3, Ai Wen Sha. Code-name Xaldin. Place of Origin China. Age 39. Ability Wind. _Kairi had always thought the code-names were kind of silly. Whoever had done the first three had apparently thought it hilarious to have all of them begin with an X, and the X had become a tradition. Nowadays Kairi let Naminé come up with the names. She seemed to enjoy doing it, and being a glorified prison guard had to come with some sort of perk.

"Nobodies 1 through 5 remain unchanged," Naminé chimed in. The printer was finishing up with _Number 4, Ivars Vanags, Code-name Vexen, Place of Origin Latvia, Age 45, Ability Ice. _

"They always do," Kairi muttered. She couldn't tell whether Naminé was trying to be helpful, or trying to be conversational. The girl was more than just a computer program, but it was difficult to know just how much more. The final member of TTA Phase 1, _Nobody 5, Lawrence Baker, Code-name Lexaeus, Place of Origin Canada, Age 44, Ability Earth, _bled out of the printer. All of them had been in the system for more than a decade- they had been gleaned from the places hardest hit during the war. Unfortunately, they had all outlived their usefulness, which led the DIZ Team to pursue the younger, more dynamicbunch that comprised TTA Phase 2.

"All right, Nam. Hit me." Naminé nodded, and the computer whirred into action. _Nobody 6, Zeke McLane, Code-name Zexion, Place of Origin Former United States, Age 20, Ability Psychic. _Zexion, a powerful illusionist, had been the last Nobody uploaded before Kairi joined the DIZ Team, and the herald of Phase 2. The main differences? For one, the Phase 2 subjects were uploaded younger, as they had also developed their abilities at a much younger age. Also, since Phase 2 had begun after the establishment of the World Nation, all of the place names were marked as "former." Otherwise, the two Phases were exactly the same. Zexion was the only home-grown subject, mostly so the people in charge of the project could cover their asses- if the pattern of disappearances was noticed and all of the Nobodies came from war-torn, impoverished countries, the former United States would be the immediate suspect.

_Nobody 7, Michael Adey, Code-name Saïx, Place of Origin Former Australia, Age 22, Ability Moon?. _Kairi smiled again at the question mark. Saïx had extremely enhanced physical abilities that seemed to wax and wane with the phases of the moon. Somewhat like lycanthropy, without the actual physical transformation. No one knew what caused it, as was the case with the rest of the Nobodies. Saïx had been the first name that Naminé had chosen as head of the TTA. She hadn't been familiar enough with naming systems to notice that the code-names were usually based off of the subjects' original names, and confessed that she thought Saïx was pretty sounding.

_Nobody 8, Alexei Gorodetsky, Code-name Axel, Place of Origin Former Russia, Age 19, Ability Fire _and _Nobody 9, Démé Desmarais, Code-name Demyx, Place of Origin Former France, Age 19, Ability Water _were next. Since no normal human on Earth was powerful enough to go up against Alexei Gorodetsky, the DIZ Team had contracted rival terrorist Démé Desmarais to capture him. After Alexei was brought to New York, the team had double-crossed Démé, and stolen both of them at once. The look on Démé's face as he was being uploaded into the system haunted Kairi's nightmares. _Get a grip, _she thought to herself. _Démé Desmarais is dead. You killed him. _Unsurprisingly, the thought didn't make her feel any better. She checked through their standard unusual temperature readings, Axel's too high and Demyx's too low, and pressed on.

_Nobody 10, Lucas Owen, Code-name Luxord, Place of Origin Former India, Age 24, Ability Psychic. _Luxord had limited telekinesis, but his main strength was his ability to read the future. Unfortunately, he seemed unable to see while inside the TTA. He'd been inside the system for five months now and hadn't been able to predict so much as what he was going to be served for breakfast. Kairi made a quick note in her notebook.

_Nobody 11, Marcos Garcia, Code-name Marluxia, Place of Origin Former Panama, Age 23, Ability Plants. _Yes, Marluxia could speak to plants, an ability that was much more dangerous than it sounded. The eccentric Panamanian was one of Kairi's favorite Nobodies. In life, he'd dyed his hair pink as a symbol of his ability to kill you with flowers. Plus, he was damn hot. But Kairi would never admit that to anyone (except Naminé, who completely agreed with her.) The second-to-last Nobody, _Nobody 12, Lola Guerra, Code-name Larxene, Place of Origin Former Chile, Age 20, Ability Electric_, had the strongest readings, obviously, because she was a being who manipulated electricity trapped against her will and knowledge inside an environment made completely of electric pulses. Kairi frowned at the spikes in the numbers, but if Naminé said that Larxene was contained, then Larxene was contained. She jotted everything down in her book, and prepared herself for the very last Other.

_Nobody 13, Rock Mann, Code-name Roxas, Place of Origin Former Germany, Age 18, Ability ?. _This time, Kairi truly was stumped as to what the ability was. His enhanced physical abilities clearly marked him as an Other, and his record as a spy and assassin marked him as a dangerous one at that, but as far as anyone knew, he'd shown no signs of having a distinct Other ability beyond the basics. All of his victims were found dead with no marks on their bodies. Oh well. A couple weeks of non-stop testing and surveillance, and they'd figure out whatever secrets Roxas was hiding.

Kairi bundled up the print outs and stuck them in a folder for filing. The head of the DIZ Team was a firm believer in paper trails. She finished up her notes and packed up her things. Same routine, every day. Watching over a group of people who technically didn't exist. No names or memories. No living family. Her fists clenched, knuckles white. Naminé smiled at her.

"It was nice to see you, Kairi. I will go check on the subjects now."

"Naminé…" her voice hitched a bit. "Naminé, it is nice in there, right? No one… is hurting them?"

"It is very nice, Kairi. Do not worry."

* * *

"Welcome Roxas."

Roxas smiled faintly as the other students said their hellos. He was a new student at Twilight Town Academy, a highly selective private military school for gifted pupils. He had the entire pamphlet memorized.

The teacher was an older woman, with long blonde hair tucked up in a low bun. She smiled at Roxas and gestured toward an empty seat off to the side. He slid in, softly greeting the student next to him. His class-neighbor also had long blonde hair, but the top of his was swept up into an elaborate two-tiered fauxhawk.

"Hi! Roxas, right? My name's Demyx," he said with a smile.

"God. Don't freak out the new guy already." Sitting in front of them was an exotic-looking boy with sleek, deep blue hair, pulled back into a loose ponytail. He didn't turn around when he spoke. Roxas opened his mouth to defend his new acquaintance, but Demyx had already shrunk into himself and was intently focused on some nothing-in-particular in his book. Weird.

"Class. Attention, please." The woman's voice washed over them like butter, almost artificial in its evenness. "We will continue with History of the World Nation. Open your books to page 879." Roxas did as he was told, assuming the book on his desk was meant to be his, and blinked in surprise. The title of the chapter was _The Rise of the Others. _He'd come in at a good time, then. He glanced around the room, sizing up the other seven students, all of whom he knew to also be Others- that's what 'gifted pupils' meant. He wondered what their powers were.

"The race of Others has been around for as long as the race of humans, if not longer," the teacher began, reading directly from the text. "For example, the shamans and healers of human legend were Others." She looked up. "Our race, however, is shrouded in mystery and distrust. What exactly is an 'Other'?" She turned back to the book. The words weren't anything that Roxas didn't already know, but he was enthralled. "An Other is someone with the ability to interact with and manipulate the magical world. A human born with a sixth sense, an extra layer of perception, which allows her or him access to powers beyond the scope of normal human possibility." The boy called Demyx was nodding along, mesmerized. "Sometimes Otherhood can be obtained by humans, such as with the life-altering conditions of vampirism and lycanthropy. But typically, it is a power one is born with. Why certain powers manifest in certain individuals is still unknown. Personality and ability seem to be connected, but it is a question of chicken and egg." She smiled at a red-haired boy, seated in the back. "Can the fiery redhead manipulate fire because he's a fiery redhead? Or did his personality become fiery because he can manipulate fire?" A couple students seemed to find this terribly profound, and began jotting down notes.

"As you all know, you are attending this Academy free of charge in exchange for allowing us to observe your abilities and research this question. Together, we will find an answer." The students beamed. "All of you are here in part because you were born during the third World War. The nuclear and biological fallout from combat is believed to have contributed in some way to the upsurge in Others being born in the past twenty years, and the rise of Otherhood in the public consciousness." The class shifted uncomfortably. "Do not worry, students. No one can touch you here. You are free to be yourselves, and use your powers at will. In fact, it is encouraged." Roxas felt as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. Here, he was safe. Not like out there.

Roxas held on to every word with rapt attention all the way until the class ended. The eight students filed neatly out of the room, and towards what Roxas knew to be the cafeteria. All of the students ate together in a small kitchen, and slept together in the same dormitory. It was dinner time, and he found himself being served vegetable soup and rice. Demyx, the boy who was nice to him, called him over to sit on one side of the table along with the allegedly fiery red-head, and a quiet boy with dark blue, almost purple hair.

"This is Roxas," Demyx said, again with a smile.

"Hi Roxas. I'm Zexion."

"I'm Axel."

"Hi Zexion. Hi Axel." The four boys quietly began eating dinner. The soup tasted good. Roxas glanced down at the other four students, on the other side of the table. The boy with the long blue hair, the one who had snapped at Demyx, was there, as well as the only female student. The other two were two boys with medium-toned skin, one with platinum blonde hair and goatee, and one with hot pink hair pulled up in a high ponytail. Roxas's curiosity got the better of him.

"Do you have powers too?" His three dining companions looked at him strangely.

"I can set things on fire with my brain," Axel offered, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm psychic," Zexion said, pointing to his forehead.

"I control water," Demyx finished. "What do you do? Wait, no! Don't tell us. We'll find out at your first combat practice." Axel and Zexion nodded in agreement. Roxas smiled. This place was nice.

After dinner, all eight pupils filed quietly into a spacious work-out room, where another blonde woman was waiting. Roxas was asked to do a series of weight-lifting exercises, with the coach taking careful notes, and then he ran on a treadmill at a steady pace for one hour, also noted. The group moved into a communal shower, changed into uniform pajamas, then moved into a small bedroom with four sets of bunk beds. Roxas was on a top bunk, above Axel. The air around the fiery Other was noticeably warmer than normal, making his bed very snug. Yes, he was going to like it here. He curled up in his bed, and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

Hope you like! To be clear, I chose to use the term 'Others' because I was trying to stick to terminology used in Kingdom Hearts, not because this is supposed to be a Nightwatch crossover. But I did toss in a little easter egg for all y'all Sergei Lukyanenko fans. Reviews, good or bad, make me feel good about myself. Hint. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Sora was doing laundry. Two weeks had passed since Cloud had left him here. Leon wouldn't let him take clients yet, so he was stuck doing chores around the church. He couldn't go outside except at night, so having something to pass the time was good. Despite his best efforts, however, he was slowly but surely becoming as nocturnal as Leon. Right now, the sun had just gone down, and Leon had left to buy some new blood for the fridge. Sora'd gotten used to the blood-in-the-fridge thing pretty quickly, too, and the way Leon liked to ladle his blood over real food like sauce, his favorite being pasta. Liked the texture, he said. And he never wore matching socks. Even though he lived in an abandoned church, Leon wasn't really the type you'd expect to have eccentric habits. Sora was beginning to see why he and his brother were so close.

Speaking of Cloud, he hadn't gotten in touch with Sora once since he had left. What happened? Going and looking for him wasn't exactly an option, so Sora filled his day every day with chores to take his mind off his deadbeat brother. Leon was absolutely no help, so all Sora could do was wait.

He was literally flitting to and fro from task to task when someone banged on the door. He froze, and as a result fell to the ground with a thump. Leon had never told him what to do if someone came by while he wasn't home. He'd never mentioned Sora's impact on the business at all beyond a gruffy 'Most of my customers know I'm a vampire, so the wings aren't going to bother them much.' Well, great. But did that mean he should just run out in all of his winged glory to say hello to everyone? And what about that tiny minority that _didn't _know about the whole vampire thing? While Sora was lost in deciding what to do, the door opened and the mystery visitor came into the main entrance.

"Squall?" Sora jumped. Was that his brother? No- the voice wasn't deep enough. In any case, only Others knew Leon by that name. And this guy was definitely an Other, he could feel it in his feathers. He remembered as a tiny kid how hard he'd laughed when he realized that Others can feel all the other Others, just because of the awkward phrasing. Hopefully Cloud hadn't told Leon that story.

"… Squall? Squall Leonhart?" Oh right, the customer. Sora tried to figure out what kind of Other he was, but wasn't having any luck. He'd have to go downstairs to actually see the guy. Well, he didn't _sound _or _feel _suspicious, at least. Sora tentatively tiptoed to the top of the stairs.

"Uh, I got sent here by a guy named Cloud Strife? Hello?" He knew Cloud!? That settled it. Sora jumped up, glided down and out into the open main floor of the church, with a gravity-driven force rather like a bat flying out of a chimney. He noted with a pang of unhappiness that the mystery visitor, a boy of about his own age, was in fact a little freaked out by his wings. But it didn't matter, because he knew Cloud! A random guy who knew Cloud was better than no Cloud at all.

"Hi! You know Cloud?" he asked excitedly.

"Uh, yeah. Weird guy."

"He's my brother!" Sora chirped, extending his hand for a handshake.

"Oh. Oh!" the stranger smiled weakly. "Well, that explains it. He was looking for roommates in an Other-run coffee shop, and I thought it was weird that a normal person was there, but if you're his brother, well… yeah. Sorry. Hi. I'm Riku," the boy stammered out all in a rush, returning the handshake.

"He hasn't found a roommate yet? Where is he living then? Did he get a new job?" Sora was desperate for news of his brother. Beyond desperate. He needed to know what Cloud was doing without him. While he was asking questions, he sized up his new guest. Riku was odd, no doubt about it. He was lean and almost scrawny looking, but tall, and he was dressed all in black. His clothes made Sora self-conscious of his hand-me-down jeans and cut-up tank tops. His eyes were a bright teal and slanted up slightly at the corners, giving him an exotic Asian look. The weirdest part of Riku's appearance, however, was his make-up. All of his hair had been bundled up into a hat with not a single strand showing, as had been the style a while back, and his eyebrows were completely plucked out and drawn in with black pencil. Despite the weird cosmetics, Riku really was quite an attractive boy. Sora found himself dwelling on just _how _attractive, and almost missed his response.

"Honestly, I have no idea, I only met him once and told him I was looking for someone and he told me to come here. I guess you're Squall, then?" he asked, pointing to the wings.

"What? Oh, no. My name's Sora. Sora Strife."

"Really? Are you part Japanese?" Riku looked about as excited as Sora had been when he thought Riku was a friend of Cloud's.

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Oh." There was disappointment. "It's just, your name." Sora looked at him, confused. "'Sora' means the sky in Japanese. Very appropriate," he smiled. The stranger appeared to have come to the decision that a non-Japanese person with a Japanese name was better than no Japanese person at all. He and Sora apparently had a lot in common. Maybe it was just the enforced isolation, but Sora was pleased as punch to have someone to talk to and he liked this new hot-and-mysterious Riku a lot.

"Does it really?" Riku was pushed back a little by the force of Sora's excitement. Not his literal excitement, of course, but Sora had a habit of gesturing with his wings, and if he got excited, well, yeah. Turbulence.

"Yep." He clutched his hat to keep it firmly on his head. "Sky."

"My parents just picked it out because they thought it sounded nice. I mean, that's what I think they did. How do you know that? Are you Japanese?"

"Yeah. Well, my dad. My mom is American, hence the no accent and everything, but she lives in Japan. Moved there as a kid, before the war," he clarified. Sora had been about to ask. There was next to no immigration and emigration these days, since the new World Nation didn't want to deal with it while they were establishing themselves. Though it was still painfully easy to sneak across borders, and he supposed that was what Riku must have done.

"So you grew up in Japan?" Riku nodded. Sora's map skills were adequate at best, but he knew enough to know that Japan was stupidly far away, especially when sneaking illegally. Riku was getting hotter and mysterious-er as this conversation went on. "And you snuck all the way here." Riku nodded again. "How long did that take you?"

"11 days, by ship," Riku said. Sora oohed appreciatively.

"Nice work. So what brings you to the former US?" Cloud would probably tell him that he was gawking and asking too many questions and being rude, but Riku didn't seem to mind, so Sora pressed on.

"I'm looking for someone, who was last seen here. I got here two weeks ago, I don't know anyone in New York, and I'm not getting anywhere on my own." Riku made a sharp, whistley frustration noise through his teeth. Sora had never heard anything like it. He was enthralled. "I've been going to places with lots of Others. I got in a conversation with your brother, ironic since he was the only human there, and he told me Squall might be able to help me, and gave me this address. Is he here?"

"No. He went out to buy blood." Sora clapped a hand over his mouth. Riku raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I guess it doesn't matter if you know, if you're going to be a client. Leon's a vampire. Oh, and everyone calls him Leon except my stupid big brother."

"A vampire and an angel, living in a desecrated church together?"

"Yeah, I know. We're a weird bunch." Sora looked down and ruffled his wings to distract from his blush. _He just called me an angel!_ "Sounds like the premise of a soap opera, doesn't it?" He laughed nervously.

"So… so, when will he be back?" Riku was suddenly blushing and averting his eyes, too. Sora kicked himself for being so awkward. He was about to lose the only person his own age he'd talked to in forever, and a potential sexy-friend, too. No, no, no!

"Uh, I don't know when he's getting back but it shouldn't be long and you can stay here and wait with me," he blurted, much too quickly. Riku raised a hand-drawn eyebrow. Sora kicked himself again. _You are such a klutz! _Much to his surprise, Riku just smiled at him, a little sadly.

"I guess it gets lonely with those," he murmured, gesturing at the huge wings. Sora returned the sad expression.

"Yeah. I don't get out much."

"It's ok. I understand better than you think."

"Yeah. Sure." Were it possible, Sora would have strangled himself. _Learn how to flirt, you jerk! No one wants to watch you feeling sorry for yourself! Besides, he was just nice to you and you threw it back in his face! What's wrong with you?_

Sora had never been kissed. Well, just once. A girl at his high school had leaned in to kiss him on the lips, and had barely made it when he'd screamed and run away because he was terrified she would touch his middle and find out the truth about what he was. After that, no one would go near him. Sora was well past his 18th birthday and no one had taken his tongue-virginity yet, let alone the real thing. And he had _urges._ He could take care of himself, sure, but for God's sake he was well past 18 years old and they were getting worse. So, his conversation with Riku was laced with the desperation of someone who felt that every time someone looked at him the right way, it was his very last chance.

"Hey. I think… I need to go," Riku said awkwardly, likely feeling the hunger rolling off of Sora's tiny body. "I'll come back when Squall, er, Leon?" Sora nodded. "When Leon is here."

"Better to come during the day. He can't really go outside, so, you know. More likely to be here." Sora's wings slouched, betraying him as he tried to hide his disappointment.

"All right. See ya later, Sora." Riku waved and left. Sora stared after him longingly, trapped inside the tiny church. He didn't even know Riku's last name. He wanted to feel the sun on his face again. None of it was fair. He flapped up to his makeshift "room" in the rafters and broke out the World News. _I bet Démé Desmarais never has to deal with crap like this._

* * *

Roxas was now a member of a group. He had learned quickly that there were two groups at Twilight Town Academy: his own consisted of himself, Demyx, Axel, and Zexion, and the other consisted of Saïx, Luxord, Larxene, and Marluxia. It had taken him a couple of days to learn all of the names. For some reason, it took him quite a while these days to commit information to memory. Bad luck, since he had just started at a new elite school. Right now, it was free time, and the eight were resting in a common room in between their physical training and tests. The furniture was unseparated and consisted of a singular round couch and some chairs, all white, but still, Roxas saw that his group was on one end of the couch, and the other group was on the other. Something about the other group made him instinctively uncomfortable.

"Hi, Roxas."

"Hi, Demyx. Hi, Zexion. Hi, Axel." Roxas sat down on the couch. He had just finished his shower, his hair was still wet. When the students weren't in classes or training or asleep, they just sat here, together in this room. Roxas had no complaints. He liked being with his friends.

"You're wet," Axel observed. Roxas touched his bangs.

"I can do that!" Demyx reached over and rested two fingers on Roxas's matted blonde hair. Roxas felt the beads of water crawling up his scalp and lifting into the air. Demyx was better than any hairdryer, and Roxas was beginning to understand that that's why his hair looked the way it did every day. Everyone else just let their hair air dry, and it turned out looking however it turned out looking. Demyx was the only one with consistency. Roxas wondered why he cared about his hair so much. His head began to hurt and he stopped.

"Classes were good today, right?" Zexion asked conversationally. Nods of agreement passed around the circle. Roxas settled back into the soft couch, tucking his knees up to his chin. He didn't notice that Axel was staring at him.

"Your hair looks nice." Axel said suddenly, and brightened when Roxas smiled at him. Roxas thought he should give Axel a compliment, too.

"Thank you. Your hair looks nice, too." Axel blushed a little. It made Roxas feel good. "And Demyx, your hair looks nice! I was just thinking about how you style it every day." Demyx beamed happily and Axel glared at him.

"Fine then. I'm leaving." Axel stood up to make good on his threat. Everyone, even the other group, stared at him. Leaving? Roxas was confused. All eight students were always together. They had never been apart. Axel seemed a little confused as well, like he wasn't quite sure what had just happened. He fidgeted for a long moment and then slowly sat back down, looking at the room's eyes uneasily. The room sat in hushed silence, unsure how to go on.

Fortunately, at that moment, the bell chimed for exercises. Everyone stood now, and neatly moved out of the room. The Academy was very small, so they didn't have far to go. All of the rooms branched off of a single white hallway. From the common room, the training room was across the hall and two doors down. They didn't need to change their clothes- their uniforms were designed to be loose enough for exercise. As soon as they were inside the room, Roxas picked out a treadmill next to Axel. This seemed to make Axel happy. Roxas didn't know why, but he liked it when he made people happy.

"That was cool," he said with a grin, not even breaking a sweat from the jog. "When you said you were leaving."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess," Axel said sheepishly. He was considerably taller than Roxas, but their treadmills were always set to a standardized speed, so his run was barely above a walk.

"I like running." Roxas wanted to talk to Axel but there never seemed to be much of anything to talk about. He racked his brain, but he couldn't come up with anything that wasn't related to an activity he was doing right at that moment, or recently. He had already talked about how Axel had tried to leave, and that left the running. Roxas really did like running.

"Yeah, me too." At that moment, the treadmills sped up, and the two boys were forced to focus on the sprint. Roxas leaned into the run, moving his legs considerably more quickly than his taller counterpart. He would talk to Axel again later. He decided to keep track of things he wanted to talk about in his head. Yes, that would work. Roxas was content as the sweat began to build up on his legs.

* * *

Riku left the church in a hurry, setting off towards nowhere in particular. He didn't know the city that well, so he had no idea what he was going to do. He really should have stayed and waited for Squall, Leon, whoever, but something about that boy was making him uneasy. He had heard of Others with glaring physical abnormalities, but he had never actually _seen _one. That poor kid, he had to have been about Riku's age, and he was trapped in the dark because of his wings. Ironic. At least Riku was only trapped in an uncomfortable hat. He wanted desperately to scratch his head, but it was a risk he couldn't take out on the street like this, even in twilight. Besides, he had more important things to take care of. Why had he told Sora so much about himself? He couldn't risk being found!

_But then, neither can he, _he reminded himself. Maybe it was just because Sora was the first person he'd had a real conversation with since coming to New York, but the boy inspired too much trust. He'd penetrated Riku's defenses effortlessly. _I need to be more careful._

The sun was setting behind him. That meant he was moving east. Good enough. Riku needed to find an abandoned building where he could set up shop. He'd been sleeping on the street, but it was getting awfully old, not to mention dangerous. By the end of the month, he had to have his own place. After about ten minutes, he reached the East River. Toxic postwar river water meant plenty of dilapidated old buildings to choose from. And made out of brick, too- _nothing _was going to get through that. He took a deep breath to smell the air. No humans had been near this area in, well, long enough for their scents to have disappeared.

He picked an especially promising candidate, no windows, and swiftly kicked the door down. Dust attacked his delicate nose, causing a violent sneezing fit. Riku recovered, stepped in, and let his eyes adjust to the dark. The inside was spacious and open. He supposed there must have been shelves everywhere at some point- the building clearly wasn't a house. He carefully walked through the ground floor to be sure that the roof wouldn't collapse on him. Convinced that the building was reasonably sound, he went to look for a basement, which he discovered through a small door at the back of the warehouse.

If the ground floor was dark, the basement was pitch black. Riku struggled to allow his eyes to adjust, but there was not even a single glimmer of light. He closed the door. No lock. He shut his eyes and allowed his nose and ears to guide him. He found some old furniture. Collected together it was pretty formidable, including two refrigerators, but would it really be enough to make a barricade? He'd just have to get here early on the first day and move all the furniture from upstairs down here too, he guessed. The basement itself was perfect for his purposes- he wasn't going to need to be able to see.

Riku was getting hot, and now that he was safely inside, he tore his hat off, letting his thick silver hair fall down to his shoulders. He ran a hand through it casually and was surprised at how dumpy and flat it felt, as if it were angry at him for being hidden. He desperately needed to bathe. No chance of there being a functional shower in a shitty run-down warehouse, though. He pulled out his cigarettes.

As he smoked, his thoughts kept meandering back to Sora. Bizarre coincidence that his parents had given him that name. _No one _would give their child such a distinctly foreign name now. And yet, Riku couldn't think of any other name that would do him justice. Sora... the boy was almost an otherworldly creature, like a classical statue come to life. And those wings, partially translucent, and the way the light in the dark church shone through them, the way they moved around when he talked, he- Riku blinked and stopped himself. God, he was practically writing crappy head-poetry about the guy. He had to get out of this basement.

With some effort, Riku managed to clamber up to the roof to watch the moon rise. He stuffed his hat back in place. The wide glowing circle was almost full, with a small dark crescent carved out on the left side. He remembered the rhyme his mother had taught him: _Light on the right, it's gonna get bright. Light on the left, it ain't. _The full moon was coming in three days.

He hoped his mom was ok. She would never in a million years have approved of what he was doing, so he'd snuck out while she was asleep. Trying to get in touch with her to let her know he was ok was out of the question. All electronic communications were heavily monitored, and the international police would find out what he'd done in an instant. Bad enough that he'd snuck out of Japan to begin with, but considering what he was… no. Much too big a risk. His mother would just have to worry for a little while longer.

He leaned back, resting on the roof of the abandoned warehouse. In Kyoto, he would count the stars to help himself relax. In New York City there were no stars. So, Riku settled for counting the APDs. Their blinking lights were almost like stars, and would have been almost pretty if they hadn't been exposing just how thick the air pollution was. They looked so small from where he was. Tiny machines sustaining the life of millions and millions of people. He had just reached his 131st purification device when he fell asleep.

* * *

Cloud was just about the shittiest guy in the world. At the very least, he was sure he'd be a finalist in any objective competition. In a fit of desperation, he'd abandoned his own brother. The move had been Leon's idea, after Cloud had come to him in the middle of the night, desperate for money to pay off a loan shark. As soon as he'd wheedled the extent of Cloud's financial problems out of him, entirely the result of his meager salary not being enough to cover a two-bedroom apartment plus living costs, Leon had refused to help unless he first moved Sora.

"It's not fair to him to be jerked around while you're dealing with this," he'd said. Cloud had retorted that Sora was an adult and could do whatever he wanted. Leon went wild with rage. "No, he is _not. _He may be biologically 18, but mentally? The boy only managed to finish through sophomore year of high school, and he's been spending nearly all of his time in your box of an apartment since then, unable to go outside for fear of being _murdered_. God knows what goes on in that kid's head. He may be irreparably _damaged._" At those words, Cloud had fallen apart. His brother, his own baby brother, was all he had in the world, ever since their parents had died in the massive New York malaria epidemic. Conditions in postwar Manhattan had been far from sanitary, and disease had spread through the city like wildfire. It was conservatively estimated that about a third of the population died in one year, with Leon's father among the casualties as well. But Cloud and Sora had survived, and Cloud swore on his life to take care of Sora for as long as he possibly could. And, where he was standing now, it looked like that time was over quite a while ago. Leon had given him the loan and told him to find a better job and some roommates to cut his living costs, and in exchange, Sora had moved into the church.

Cloud had been cursing himself for the terrible mistake nearly constantly for the two weeks ever since. The guilt at abandoning his brother was gnawing up his insides. As a result, he was hell-bent on finding a roommate who would accept his younger bro's, how shall we say, nonconformity. Unfortunately, the Others were much less likely to want him as a roommate than he had been expecting. Today was no different.

"Are you serious?" The bearded man was holding his roommate survey form, and staring at him incredulously. "You know where you are, right? I don't sense a lick of magic on you."

"Uh, yes, I do. And, I'm human."

"_Really. _Why do you want to live here, then? Mom and dad won't buy you a nice place in the good part of town?" Cloud gritted his teeth.

"It's my brother. He's got wings." The man raised an eyebrow. "Literally, he's got wings. And I'm his only family, and we have nowhere to go. _Please._" The landlord softened a bit.

"Look, kid," he sighed. "I'm really sorry, and I'm sorry your brother is struggling. But you'd be bringing in a whole mess of trouble if I let you live here, you realize that, right?" No, Cloud didn't. "I can't put my tenants in danger."

"You think I'm going to _hurt _people?"

"Maybe not you personally, no. But where one human goes, others follow. I can't risk that. The city is dangerous enough for people like us already." Cloud opened his mouth to protest, but the landlord had already gone back to shuffling papers, and was clearly not going to listen to any more complaints. Time to move on.

"..I understand. Thank you." Cloud turned, grumbling, and walked out of the office, and straight into the most beautiful man he'd ever seen in his life. Yes, Cloud swung that way, but even if he hadn't, he would have gone gay in an instant for a piece of this guy. The man was tall, taller than Cloud, and looked to be a little bit older, as well. He had porcelain pale skin and smoky blue eyes, and long, painfully straight silver hair that almost reached his ass. Cloud was so distracted by the man's ethereal beauty that he nearly forgot all the lessons he'd had drilled into him about people with silver hair. Reality snapped back at him, and he gasped and scooted back a few steps.

"Whoa. It's ok, cutie, it's dyed," the man smiled, and indicated where his roots were coming in. Platinum blonde.

Why the hell would _anyone _dye their hair _gray_? Instead of insane, Cloud found the idea desperately sexy. "How do I know you didn't fake them?"

"Were I the real deal, the roots would be coming in darker, and the hair dye wouldn't stick." Cloud supposed he'd definitely found an Other, then. A very creepy and eccentric and oh my God _hot _Other. His eyes glazed over a bit as he stared. The man noticed the way Cloud was looking at him and smiled toothily.

"You here looking for a roommate?" Cloud squeaked out a yes. "Well, you seem all right, and I'm looking for one, too. Only $600 per person per month, right on Avenue B. Wanna shack up?" Cloud had died and gone to heaven. A super cheap apartment, reasonably close to Sora, with an incredibly sexy hot Other as a roommate? What had he done to deserve this?

"W-wait. I don't even know your name."

"Sephiroth. Just Sephiroth."

* * *

ZOMG IT'S SEPHIROTH. What's he doing there, I wonder? Hmmm. ;) I confess I've never played FF7. Just FYI.

I wanted to reply to my reviews but I couldn't figure out how to do it (I'm a n00b) so I'll do it here:

Sain-kookie – Thanks! Glad you like it :)

Strange-eagle – I feel like kind of a jerk because you said you liked action and then in this chapter nothing happens, lol. Lots of violence coming up, though, I promise. As for Kairi, I always felt like she got shortchanged in the games... and I mean, if the three of them are as close as the game says they are, _someone_ has to be the brains of that operation, and it's certainly not Riku or Sora, lol. And for some more good AUs, check the stories in my faves.

XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX – It's the X gene, totally. (It's not the X gene. :) ) And, uh, Sora's wings are a weapon because he can pick people up and then drop them from incredible heights. Or something. Really, all the powers aren't meant to be weapons- Organization 13 just uses their powers for Evil 'cause they're all hardened criminals. Or were at one time, anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Kairi assumed her position at the front of her meager team of technicians. Only she and her assistant, a blonde girl about her own age named Penelo, actually worked on programming- the other three members of the DIZ Team were only concerned with hardware. But for this job, what she needed were as many sets of eyes and hands as possible, so she'd called out everyone. The team was used to sleeping in, so they were bleary-eyed and glaring, but Kairi didn't care. She'd slipped some rum into her morning coffee.

"Ok," she began, trying not to notice as one particularly drowsy boy dozed off on a monitor. "I assume you all know why you're here?" She was met with blank stares. They were all so young- _too _young. Kairi herself, a war orphan, had volunteered for this position at the ripe old age of 17, but who knew where the rest of these kids had been found. The DIZ Team preferred young recruits because it was easier to make them disappear. All employees were erased from the world's records and kept in apartments on-site. Yes, Kairi and the other four techs were as nonexistent as the Nobodies they watched over.

"Ok, so I guess I'll let you know what's going on first…" The sleepy tech finally fell asleep leaning on the computer and fell to the ground with a shout. No one moved to help him. "We have a little problem with our Nobodies. They're grouping. That means they're forming groups- they always spend time with the same people, that sort of thing." No response. "That's _bad_, people. Nobodies making friends with other Nobodies is _bad._"

"Why?" Kairi flinched at the honesty of the question. Why, indeed. But it wasn't her job to treat the Nobodies like the people that they once were. At least, not her main job. Top priority was keeping the mainframe secure.

"It's bad because if they start talking, there's a possibility of plotting. Remember, these are _prisoners. _Prisoners with enough firepower to take out entire cities, who would be none-too-pleased to discover that they were being held captive. Better to nip it in the bud." She looked for reactions, and got none. "It shouldn't be too difficult. They don't have any memories or personalities- completely blank slates." _Like you all right now, _she added mentally. Was captivity really taking its toll on them as well? "We're thinking that the grouping is probably some kind of instinctive response, but it's best to make sure there's no underlying cause. Naminé is on the inside evaluating the subjects individually, and what we need to do is some quick research on any relationships these people may have had in their past lives." The team groaned- 'quick research' always meant 'dull, stupidly difficult and painful research.' Kairi ignored them and emptied her coffee cup. "We pulled a lot of information on Numbers 6 through 12 before we captured them, but we haven't done very much research on 13's life yet. So, we start there- this behavior started after he was uploaded, maybe he's somehow the cause of it. Get to it!"

It was true- they hadn't done any research on Rock Mann's life yet. Truth be told, his capture was a complete accident. The team had been busy evaluating a business mogul in China named Ai De Xu. She was distantly related to Ai Wen Sha, and her quick rise in the business world hinted that there may have been supernatural forces at work. Unfortunately, she was well-known and well-protected enough that capturing her and transporting her to New York City would have been nigh impossible. Fortunately, the DIZ Team was rescued from having to find a new subject when Rock broke into the corporate offices directly above them. A stroke of luck, if ever there was one.

All six teenagers broke out handheld computers and began to search through all of the material Naminé had collected on Rock Mann. There wasn't very much- Rock had dealt in secrecy and information, and hadn't been much of a public eye type. Not like Démé Desmarais and Alexei Gorodetsky, showboaters extraordinaire. She'd heard that the two of them even had _fans. _Gross.

Kairi walked out of the lab and down the hall to where a coffee machine had been begrudgingly put in. She took her coffee, tipped some more rum in, beyond caring how gross it tasted, and headed back towards the lab. Today was going to be a raging nightmare. Any job she did that dipped into the psychology of her wards was enough to make her nauseous. She didn't want to _know _how fucked up they were, living in that virtual reality. But if there _was_ an underlying problem, and they _did_ start trying to break out of the system, everything would end up much, much worse. No matter how queasy it made her feel, she had to put their interests first. Hopefully she'd get a chance to apologize someday. She paused outside the lab door and listened to her team.

"This is stupid. Who the hell cares if they talk to each other? Their memories are erased, they have no means to break out of there, they're essentially dead." Kairi recognized the voice of Hayner, the hardware group's oldest member.

"They do. Remember, Larxene can manipulate electricity." Ah, good old Penelo. "We can't afford to take any risks."

"Fuck Larxene," Hayner muttered. Kairi wished she could see his face. "Those people are braindead. That chick couldn't find her own ass in a room full of mirrors."

"Hayner, please don't." Olette, a young tech who rarely spoke.

"Yeah, dude. Just do your reading like the rest of us. There isn't that much- as soon as we finish, she'll let us go." Pence, the peacekeeper.

"Bitch," Hayner whispered. Kairi chose that moment to push open the door to the lab.

"Hey guys. Did I miss anything?" She smiled pointedly at Hayner, and was pleased to see him look appropriately ashamed. "What have we found?"

"So far, nothing," Penelo said brusquely. "But we're looking." She glared at Hayner as well.

"Any word from Naminé?"

* * *

Axel leaned back in the comfortable chair, unsure why he had been brought here, by himself. Was it because he said he was leaving? Because, he hadn't really meant it. He was uncomfortable now that he really was alone. He felt exposed, and he missed the other students, even the four he rarely spoke to. Professor Naminé sat on the other side of the broad desk, offering him a welcoming smile.

"Hello, Axel. Do you know why you're here?"

"No."

"I want to see if you like it here. If you like the Academy. Could you talk to me about the Academy?" Axel fidgeted uncomfortably. His brain felt foggy and he did _not_ want to be here. His stomach rumbled.

"Are you hungry?"

"No." Professor Naminé leaned back in her chair, considering him carefully. Her eyes seemed to stream right through him.

"Tell me about your friends." Friends? Yes, he supposed that was what they were.

"They're nice."

"What are their names?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Demyx, Zexion, and Roxas. You know that already," he accused lightly.

"What about the others? What are their names?"

"Luxord, Saïx, Larxene, and Marluxia."

"And they're not your friends?" Axel thought about it. He supposed not, he didn't talk to them much. But he felt like it was wrong to say no.

"Yes, they are, I guess."

"I never see you talk to them." Axel was getting uneasy.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"It doesn't?"

"No." He gave a firm response, but inside he felt vaguely hot and ill. What was this woman getting at?

* * *

"Naminé controls the world they live in. Why can't she just read their minds and save us the trouble?" Hayner was getting very exasperated, and they were barely a third of the way through Naminé's materials. Kairi was getting fed up with him. _At this rate, I'm not going to be able to keep them around much longer._

"Do you know anything about programming, Hayner?" she asked icily. "And do you know anything about the human brain? Thoughts are formed by electrical impulses, sure, but no computer is ever going to be sophisticated enough to convert tiny electrical signals into fucking words and sentences. It's mind-reading, and it's impossible." _Impossible by scientific means, anyway._

"Oh! I think I- no, not mentioned by name. Sorry." Olette blushed and buried her nose back in her computer. Every article or record they'd found on a crime most likely committed by their subject did not mention him by name. High security vaults emptied, government records compromised, all manner of elaborate break-ins but Rock Mann could never be caught. They'd checked through all of the birth records in Germany and the neighboring countries and no one named Rock Mann had ever even been _born_. Kairi probably wouldn't have even believed he existed if she hadn't seen him herself.

"He never went to school, either. No Rock Mann in any public or private school records in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, and we know for a fact he didn't speak any language other than German, right?" Penelo twirled a loose strand of hair around her stylus.

"Right." Kairi was getting exasperated. How _dare_ he not leave any records behind! They just erased him- how could there have been nothing to erase?

"If you think about it, it makes sense that Rock Mann is a fake name," Pence said softly. "It's kind of ridiculous- Rockman! Sounds like some crappy superhero that runs around in blue tights and blasts stuff."

"Whoever he was, he was kept under tight lock and key," Olette mused.

"So, what you're telling me is- essentially, this guy's life, the information we need, only exists inside his own mind. Which you just _erased_. What the fuck is wrong with you people? You couldn't question him before you wiped him? That too much work for you?" Hayner was getting more and more rebellious. Better to cut him loose now so he wouldn't distract the others. He held a lot of sway over the other two members of the hardware team.

"Yes, because keeping an incredibly dangerous prisoner who so happens to be a _professional escape artist _around and conscious for longer than absolutely necessary is just such a good idea. God, I see it now! Why aren't _you _in charge of this team, Hayner?"

"I don't fucking know. Why aren't I?" Kairi rolled her eyes. Apparently the kid's sarcasm-o-meter was broken.

"Because you didn't write the program that's giving us all jobs, that's why. Or would you prefer to spend your time babysitting little brain-dead Xemnas? Oh wait, you're not allowed _anywhere near the system _because you're in the fucking _hardware group. _No disrespect," she added to Pence and Olette, who both shrugged. Hayner, by contrast, was spitting mad.

"I'm on the hardware team because you people refuse to train me on the system!" he roared, slamming a fist on the table. Olette squeaked. "I may not know the ins and outs of your little blonde bitch-" Kairi's eyebrow twitched with rage- "but I sure as hell could do a better job running this shithole than you!" Kairi took a deep breath and counted to five. Do not explode. Do not explode!

"Hayner, what we did or didn't do isn't of your concern. What _is _your concern is what we're _going _to do right _now_, and if that doesn't _interest_ you, you'd better just leave now, and maybe let our _boss_ know your concerns about the little blond bitch's job performance." Hayner snapped his computer shut and left without a word. Well, that was easy. She'd deal with him later. With a sigh, she turned back to the rest of the team.

"Anyone else feel like leaving?" Silence. Good. "If we want to learn about 13, the best we can do is look at the pattern of crimes that we _think_ he committed. Remember, we're trying to find out if he has any connection with the other Nobodies. So, crimes he committed, cross-referenced with Alexei Gorodetsky, Démé Desmarais, and Zeke McLane. We already know what Desmarais and Gorodetsky's connection to each other is-" nausea- "but they've gotten a lot closer since Rock was introduced to the system. What we want to know is, did Rock Mann ever meet any of these people while he was alive?"

* * *

"Yes! They're great. Roxas is really nice. And Zexion is nice even though he doesn't talk very much. And Axel can be mean sometimes but we're still friends so it's ok." Demyx was sitting cross-legged on the chair, not caring if his shoes messed up the fabric. He liked to sit this way, and Professor Naminé didn't seem to mind.

"You care very much about your friends?"

"Of course!" Demyx swayed from side to side, apparently moving to a rhythm that only existed inside his own mind. He began to hum. The song was faint, and only contained a couple lopsided notes. And yet somehow, even dopey humming amnesiatic Demyx managed to be threatening. A testament to how dangerous he'd been in life.

"What about the others? Do you care about the others?"

"Yes, of course," Demyx said with a vague tone, still swaying and humming.

"Do you talk to any of them specifically?" The hum built up into a crescendo and Demyx brought his arms and hands into his movements.

"I like Luxord," he gently sing-sang, slowly rotating his torso.

"Why do you like Luxord?"

"He was nice to me," Demyx said quietly, pausing his awkward dance for a moment. As soon as the rhythm stopped, he began to feel unsure of himself, but he ignored the feeling and pressed on. "I felt bad. Luxord was next to me and I told him I felt bad." Demyx remembered the feeling quite well- his head had ached, and his stomach was twirling. "He told me not to worry, someone would come soon who would make me feel better. And then, Roxas came," he finished triumphantly. He really _did _feel better. The humming was making him feel safe. He wondered why he hadn't tried it before.

"Luxord told you someone would come who would make you feel better?"

"Yes."

"And you believe Roxas is that person?"

"Yes," Demyx said with a smile.

* * *

Kairi let the team break for lunch while she sat defeatedly in her crappy squeaky chair, head in hands. She had already consumed at least a day's worth of alcohol, and it was barely 1:00 in the afternoon. The rum was long gone and she'd dipped into her vodka stash from her room, sneaking into the hallway to drink straight from a flask instead of bothering with mixers.

The team was nowhere _near _close to finding any useful information. All the useful information was apparently on another fucking planet. Rock Mann was a nonstarter- they'd have to switch gears. She knew that whatever they found was useless without Naminé's evaluations, but she wasn't about to tell her crew that. Better to do the research now than later.

"Hey, Kairi?" Kairi was startled out of her thought process by Penelo's early return. _Can't a girl wallow in peace?_

"What d'you want?" Kairi muttered, and was ashamed to admit that she slurred a little bit. She was a surly drunk.

"Are you drunk?"

"No! Not drunk."

"Ok, boss." Penelo opened up her computer and went back to reading. The blonde girl had arrived a few months before, and been promoted to Kairi's assistant because she displayed a knack for programming, and also because Naminé liked her.

"Pence and Olette?"

"Not done eating yet."

"Hayner?"

"No sign." Kairi appreciated Penelo's ability to answer succinctly without sounding like a jackass. She supposed it was a side effect of living in solitary confinement for months on end. One had to be economical with words. How long had it been since Penelo'd arrived on the team? At least six months, she thought. There was no time here. She had no idea what month it even was, or what day of the week, or what time. Lab time was different from real time. The TTA system operated only at night, hence the nickname "Twilight Town," so all Kairi really knew was that her days were Twilight Town nights and vice versa.

"Is Naminé finished yet?"

"Not that I know of," Naminé was still processing the data from her interviews from the night before. Apparently there was a lot to be done to convert the system data into a format that Naminé could communicate to Kairi. Kairi'd never asked what exactly that was.

"She'll let you know when she's done?" Kairi nodded, and was vaguely suspicious of her blonde assistant. The girl took too much of an interest in Naminé, and Kairi didn't like letting anyone getting too close to her creation. Besides, she had plenty of cause to believe that Penelo was a threat.

The blonde girl was an Other.

* * *

"You spend a lot of time with the same people?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Roxas, Axel, and Demyx." Zexion stared at the floor, refusing to make eye contact. He didn't like this. He'd been too confused, and being all on his own was making it worse. Why couldn't everyone just leave him alone?

"What about the other four students? Do you talk to them?" He shook his head without speaking.

"Does anyone bother you?"

"Larxene." The word was out before Zexion realized he was talking. He was a little surprised at how forceful his voice was. Yes, Larxene bothered him, but he wasn't quite sure why, and he was never planning on _telling _anyone about it. She'd been making him queasy ever since she'd arrived. Zexion wasn't sure how long ago that was.

"Larxene?" Professor Naminé actually looked surprised. Zexion had never seen her look surprised. "Why does Larxene bother you?"

"She's a girl," Zexion said bluntly. Professor Naminé actually seemed flustered.

"What? Zexion- why does her being a girl bother you? You aren't… do you _like _her? Have you had any… physical responses?" Zexion had no idea what she was talking about.

"No. She's a girl. But there's another girl," he said softly. "There's another girl and I can't remember. My head hurts to think of her. Sometimes I dream, but when I wake up, she's gone, and there's only Larxene." He'd never spoken to anyone about his dreams. He figured the others would think they were silly. Plus, he always forgot what he'd dreamed about as soon as he woke up.

"And you didn't start dreaming about this girl until you met Larxene?" Zexion thought for a long moment.

"…I think I always have. But now she's clearer." Zexion's voice had lowered to a tiny whimper. He knew how strange he sounded. No one else had dreams! No one else could put visions in people's heads.

"I understand. Would you like to stop now, Zexion?"

"Yes," he breathed.

* * *

"This is getting us nowhere. We just need to wait for Naminé. I'm going to check in with her now- you all are dismissed." Pence and Olette obediently closed their computers and left- they probably wanted to get some sleep before they had to come back and check up all of the machinery. Penelo stayed behind.

"Why do you always speak to Naminé alone?" she asked bluntly. Kairi could feel her old eyebrow twitch building up again.

"She trusts me," she said flatly. "She tells me things she wouldn't tell other people. All of our conversations are printed and put on file- I have nothing to hide." Penelo jumped a bit at the accusation.

"That's not what I meant! I just- I'm curious. _Why _does she only want to talk to you? Did you program her that way?"

"For someone who claims to not be slinging accusations around, you sure are asking a lot of questions," Kairi said sharply. "No, I did not program her that way. Naminé is an extremely complicated AI system. I have no idea what she's thinking." Actually, Kairi did have some idea what she was thinking. But information was power, after all.

Penelo backed down much too quickly. Shit. Had Kairi gotten too angry, too soon? Had her defensiveness betrayed her second-biggest secret? Penelo already knew the first-biggest. Shit. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be forward. I was just wondering if you had any… special _skills_… that made Naminé warm up to you more." Kairi froze. Fuck. She did _not _just go there.

"You tell the higher-ups anything, you're getting dragged down with me," she hissed, caution forgotten. She could _not _lose her job. Not an option. "No way you're going to find evidence without having to admit what _you_ are yourself."

"Look. I don't know what someone like you is doing here, or whose side you're on," Penelo whispered dangerously, apparently throwing caution and innuendo to the wind. Sides? There were _sides_, now? Kairi was pretty sure that being trapped in this complex effectively removed you from anything involving 'sides.' "But I'm going to figure out what exactly you put into that computer, and you can either tell me yourself, or we can do this the hard way."

"Ha! Are you threatening me?" Kairi was pretty effectively sobered up by now, but she still managed to laugh. The sharp laugh that only came out when she was angry. "I have no fucking clue what you mean by what side I'm on- I'm on the side of the people I'm watching over. This place is hell, you know that? You want to know why I made Naminé? What her _purpose _is? She keeps the people in _there-" _she gestured wildly at the computer mainframe- "from going _insane. _You ever met 1 through 5? Well, have you?" She was shouting now.

"Maybe you should have made yourself a Naminé system instead, Ms. Alcoholic," Penelo snapped back. "How do you know what those people need?"

"How do I _know_? How do I know! You know, when you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, sometimes it's better to just _shut up,_" Kairi snarled. "Now get the fuck out of my lab."

"No."

"Penelo…" The warning tone was lost on the blonde.

"Kairi. I don't want to fight with you." What was all of the above, then? Make up your damn mind. "Honestly, we're probably working towards the same goal. You obviously care about the people in the system, I do too-"

"Get out," Kairi repeated, growling, filling with fury at her assistant's presumption. Like anyone alive could care about that system more than she did. Her anger was building to dangerous levels- if this kept up, she might lose control.

"Kairi-"

"Get out, get out, GET OUT," Kairi roared, and suddenly, Penelo screamed and clutched her head. She ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Kairi got out one sigh of relief before two metaphorical knives slammed into both her temples. She howled in pain and collapsed onto the floor, blood seeping out of her nose.

* * *

Roxas and his three best friends were in the common room now, looking apprehensively over at the other group. Professor Naminé wanted them to talk to each other, so maybe they should try.

"You go first." Demyx whispered to Axel.

"No."

"You're friends with Luxord, why don't _you _go?" Roxas suggested back at Demyx.

"Maybe Zexion should go?" Demyx asked hopefully. All three looked over at their psychic friend. Zexion was completely silent, apparently having blocked out everything around him.

"I vote Demyx," Axel said definitively.

"I do too," Roxas agreed.

"Looks like you're going," Axel smiled. Zexion didn't want to vote. Effectively outnumbered, Demyx muttered something inaudible and stood to go say hello to his old friend Luxord. Roxas watched the scene with mild interest. Everyone in the other group stopped what they were doing and stared as Demyx approached them.

"Ah, hello, Luxord," Demyx said, very friendly, Roxas thought.

"Hello, Demyx," said Luxord.

"What are you doing here?" Larxene, the only woman, asked with the slightest tinge of sharpness in her voice. Given how mellow Twilight Town Academy was, that tiny hint of meanness was enough to make Demyx uncomfortable.

"Ah, it was nice to see you. I must go now." Demyx turned to Axel and Roxas for support, and they both shrugged at him. Roxas smiled at Axel. It was almost like they'd been sharing thoughts.

"Larxene, let him stay if he wants to." Marluxia, the pink-haired boy, was leaning back against the couch, and clearly fancied himself the ringleader. Saïx nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Just don't sit next to me. I don't want you to sit next to me," Larxene said, and went back to… whatever she'd been doing before. It looked like she was trying to sharpen her fingernails.

"Is she sharpening her fingernails?" Roxas whispered to Axel.

"I dunno," Axel whispered back. "Zexion?" Zexion didn't respond. Axel shrugged. "Guess so."

Demyx sat quietly with the other group, unsure what to do. Roxas felt bad for him. The guilt chewed at his stomach a little bit.

"Maybe we should go with him," he suggested.

"No way."

"Fine then, I'll go." Roxas stood up and went to sit next to Demyx on the other side of the couch. Demyx looked unbelievably relieved.

"Hello, Larxene, Saïx, Luxord, Marluxia."

"Hello, Roxas," four voices chimed back at him.

* * *

Finally, some stuff happening to balance out the boatloads of exposition! And Penelo! (I kinda ran out of actual Kingdom Hearts characters- she's from Final Fantasy XII for those who don't know.) Hooray! Tell me what you think please :D


	4. Chapter 4

I'd like to give a shout-out to my lovely beta, who actually likes this crap enough that she watched a bunch of Kingdom Hearts cutscenes on Youtube so she'd know who everyone was. Thanks, beta! Y'all should post reviews 'cause she likes to read them. And so do I. ;)

* * *

Leon was rudely torn out of a rather pleasant dream about a rather pleasant blonde friend of his by a rather unpleasant phone ring. The ring was loud and harsh- it was meant to be loud enough that he could hear it from anywhere in the church, and since no one ever called him, having it next to his bed had never been a problem. Until now.

"H'lo?" he rasped grumpily. His voice was all hoarse because of the dream he'd been having. God, he hoped he didn't talk in his sleep. Not that Sora would hear him, but still. He wasn't quite sure how the boy would react to his roommate having sexy dreams about his older brother.

"Hey Squall! What's up?" Well, speak of the devil.

"Cloud? _Don't _call me that. And where the hell have you been? Sora's been worried sick." Normally, he'd segue gently into the demands and the questions, but Cloud had just woken him up, so he could deal. Vampires needed to sleep too, dammit. During the _day_.

"Sorry dude. But I've got good news! I finally found a roommate. And he's an Other, so he's cool with Sora coming to visit." Leon gasped in surprise and almost dropped the phone. Fortunately, he caught it just in time, so his badass image was kept intact.

"That's cool, man," he said, in his best manly voice. "But seriously, when are you going to come see Sora? He asks about you about six times a day." Leon's heart was all a-flutter, not that he would ever show it. He was still floored that Cloud had actually trusted him with his baby brother. Cloud had actually taken his advice! His opinion mattered that much to him!

"I'll come by soon, I promise." Cloud's voice was laced with guilt. Leon felt horrible for making him feel guilty. Backtrack, dumbass, backtrack!

"It's ok. The most important thing is that your situation is getting better." He wanted to kick himself. Your 'situation'? Way to sound like a condescending douchebag. "I mean, ah, how are you feeling?"

"Good! Everything's good. I have a couple leads on new jobs, and the new apartment, obviously, my rent'll be less than half what it was before. The roommate seems cool, I'm excited for Sora to meet him. And damn, is he _hot._" Leon's insides churned. He was torn on what to feel. On the one hand, he was ecstatic that Cloud was attracted to an Other- maybe he had a chance! On the other hand, he was attracted to a _different _Other. Not good at all. And this Other was almost certainly not a vampire_. _The whole vamp thing was always a little iffy, even if Leon refused to feed off of humans.

"Heh. You'll see how hot he really is once you've lived with him a couple weeks." That's right, Leon. Joke it off. He propped the phone up between his cheek and his shoulder as he pulled on some pants. Cloud had effectively woken him up now, so he might as well get out of bed. His stomach was acting up. He listened with interest as Cloud recounted all of the trouble he'd gone through to find a roommate who was an Other, and Leon found himself getting all a-fluttered all over again. Cloud really did care about his baby brother- he always had. It was one of the things that Leon found the most sexy about him. So, the fact that Cloud trusted him to take care of Sora… Leon had almost squealed. Not that he would ever admit it.

"So then I met this guy in the lobby while I was leaving the building, and we talked for a while and he said I could move in with him! How awesome is that?"

"Cool, Cloud. Really sweet. I'm happy for you." God! No one actually said "I'm happy for you" unless they really weren't and were trying to cover it up. Leon was majorly losing his touch, here.

"Thanks, buddy. But hey, I'm on a payphone, I need to-"

"Leon?" He jerked around and saw Sora standing in the doorway, taking up the entire hallway with his wings. "Who's that on the phone with you?" Leon could tell that the boy already felt the answer. No way was he going to get away with lying about this one.

"It's your brother," he said clearly, to make sure Cloud would know who he was talking to. On the other end, he could hear his friend swearing and fumbling for change. "I was just about to come get you. Here," he said, handing the receiver over to the eager teenager.

"Cloud!" Sora yelled, and Leon swore he could hear his friend flinching on the other end of the line. He would have smiled, but at this point, his stomach was waging all-out war on the rest of him. Vampire hunger. He needed _blood. _With a hefty amount of willpower, he managed to avoid smelling Sora's neck as he left and headed towards the kitchen.

The church's kitchen was pathetically small. Opening the fridge blocked the door, and made it impossible to reach the dishes. The oven hadn't worked in years, and everything was covered in hideous patterned tile. Not like Leon was going to shell out the money to get a remodel, and not like he had the money, or even legally owned the building (he'd bribed a pal who worked for the city into hooking up the church for electricity), but God, he was getting sick of those pansies.

Leon pulled open the fridge, trying to ignore Sora's chatter from down the hall. That poor kid. He missed his brother like crazy. And truth be told, Leon missed the kid's brother too. He figured that living together, Cloud would have to come by more often. But apparently not. Instead, Cloud had dumped Sora off on him like he was some kind of glorified babysitter. He felt himself getting irritated as he reached into the fridge and pulled out one of the sacks of pig's blood. Almost irritated enough to bite directly into the bag. He stopped himself just in time. Leon did not _feed_! He _ate_, like a normal person!

Today, he decided to mix the blood with oatmeal. He liked the way it looked- the blood turned it pink and made swirls. But he couldn't wait the full thirty seconds for the microwave to finish, so he also poured some blood into a coffee mug so he could drink it. Not through his fangs, mind you. Through his mouth, like a normal person. Even so, he poured the thick red liquid down his throat like a college kid sucking down Red Bull. Soon the first bag was gone and he had to break out a second one for the oatmeal.

As he was mixing, his tongue unconsciously caressed his fangs. They were beginning to get twitchy from disuse. He might have to go out and actually eat a rat or something soon. Rat blood wasn't nearly as gross as people made it out to be, and the rats in the city were massive. And it kept Leon's fangs functional. If those things got clogged up, the headaches were terrible. He just hated the sensation of eating through them, that disgusting feeling of the blood dripping down the back of his throat. Maybe it was something you had to get used to. Leon would make sure he never did.

Leon had never been bitten, and never would be. He was born this way. His mother was a vampire, and had passed on her condition to her only son. But he'd never fed off a human, despite being tempted. His mother had made him promise. And even after she died, he'd kept that promise. No matter how good Cloud smelled. God _dammit._

"That was Cloud!" Sora came cheering down the hall. Leon quickly banished any and all Cloud-eating thoughts. "He's really got a roommate, and I can meet him!?" The inflection went up at the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question, but Leon had figured out that Sora just talked like that when he was excited.

"Yeah, kid. He was really excited about it."

"He said he'd come by this weekend!" Sora whipped open the refrigerator door, accidentally whacking Leon with a wing in the process. The appendage was not nearly as fluffy and soft as one would expect. Actually, it hurt quite a bit.

"Ow."

"Oh, sorry, Leon," Sora called as he reached past all of the frozen blood to a single bottle of orange juice. The kid had really taken the whole blood thing in stride, Leon had to hand it to him.

"S'ok." Leon was backed into a corner with his meager bowl of oatmeal, effectively trapped by Sora's massive wings. The boy confused him a little bit- he seemed perfectly normal and happy, considering that he wasn't allowed to go outside under fear of death. Was it all an act? Or was Sora just blessed with an incredibly simple mind? Or maybe a little of both?

"I can't believe it! He actually found a roommate who's an Other. He went to all that trouble." Sora flapped his wings excitedly as he slammed the fridge shut, sending Leon's breakfast flying. The bowl smashed spectacularly against the window, covering Leon with bloodied oatmeal. He must have looked like the very worst kind of disaster victim, or possibly someone with a very disgusting skin condition. Either way, Sora was horrified.

"Oh my God- oh my God, Leon, I'm so sorry- I'll clean it up!" Sora spun around to grab the paper towels, and ended up wing-whacking the microwave halfway across the room. Leon caught it right before it smashed.

"It's ok, Sora. I'll clean it up. Really. Just go.. somewhere else." Sora's face fell. "I mean, really, it's ok. Just, you don't really fit in here. Ok?" Normally, Leon wouldn't try so hard to make someone feel better, but this was Cloud's brother, and the kid really was cute. Leon wondered if Cloud was ever this clumsy. Sora left quietly, wings tucked as close to him as they could get. Which was still not-close enough for him to bump the door as he walked out.

Leon grabbed the paper towels and began wiping the sticky food off of himself. He wasn't really hungry anymore anyway, not after all the blood he drank, he just hated not eating solid food at mealtimes. Like a _normal goddamn person. _He was halfway through scrubbing his arms when he heard Sora start yelling. Or maybe that was just normal speaking volume for Sora. Really, there was no way of knowing. He dried himself off, quickly ducked back into his room and pulled on a shirt, and went downstairs.

"Someone here?" he asked Sora, even as he made eye contact with a boy about Sora's age, standing at the entrance to the church. He'd gone to incredible lengths to hide his hair. Leon raised an eyebrow, and the kid averted his eyes.

"This is my friend Riku!" Sora had friends? How? He looked at the boy, who said nothing. They really were friends, then. Weird. Did Cloud know about this? "He came by here yesterday looking for you." Ah, that explains it.

"Hey, I'm Leon."

"I'm Riku." Pause. "Nice to meet you."

"Cloud sent him here 'cause he's looking for someone," Sora explained quickly. Well, that explained why Sora warmed up to this guy so quickly- he was an acquaintance of Cloud's. Also, damn good looking. Leon noted with mild amusement the way Sora was staring at Riku. Apparently it ran in the family, then. He made a mental note that he'd have to tell Cloud, whenever he decided to show up.

"That's about it," Riku said, almost nervously. Crap, did he know about the vampire thing? "I was wondering if you could help me."

"Well, I find people, but you'd have to pay me."

"Trust me, that won't be a problem."

"All right, then. Who are you looking for?" Riku shifted his feet, apparently unwilling to divulge the name. After a few long moments, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'm looking for a Japanese man, named Botan Shimizu."

* * *

Roxas stood in the shower, letting the warm water wash over him. It felt good. Today had been a weird day- first he had to speak to Professor Naminé, and then he and Demyx had switched groups. All very weird. But now he was alone in the group shower, and he didn't have to think about anything at all. At least, he thought he was alone.

"Hello, Roxas." Roxas turned to see who it was, and smiled.

"Hello, Axel."

"Combat practice is tomorrow," Axel said conversationally. He seemed a little unsure of himself. "We'll finally find out what your ability is."

"You're the ones who made me promise not to tell you." Roxas almost grinned, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Genuine smiles didn't exist at Twilight Town Academy.

"Well, that would ruin the surprise." Axel was suddenly standing very close to Roxas. Roxas was dimly aware that they were both wet and naked.

"Eh, hello, Axel," Roxas said again. Axel was looking at him strangely. Roxas kind of liked the attention. He could feel a hot blush creeping up his neck.

"You look nice," Axel said quietly. And then he kissed him.

Roxas wasn't really expecting the kiss, of course, so the first one ended kind of awkwardly. Axel hit the side of his mouth instead of the lips, and Roxas ended up with spit on his face. Axel was really embarrassed now, his face was slightly pink. Roxas looked at him curiously as he wiped the drool off of his cheek. He'd never heard of anyone kissing anyone else at Twilight Town Academy. But then, Axel was quite the rebel. He'd almost left that one time. Roxas's heart beat a little faster at the memory.

"You look nice, too," he offered. Axel brightened immediately.

"I like you."

"I like you, too." Axel kissed him again. This time, the kiss lingered, and Roxas was able to enjoy it. Axel felt nice. Roxas broke the contact, planting a close-mouthed smooch on his lips as he backed away. Axel touched his mouth and smiled.

"You're teasing me," he accused gently.

"I know." Roxas closed the distance between them with a single half-step, and wrapped his hands around Axel's neck. Axel broke into a full-on grin and deepened the kiss. Roxas moaned slightly, mouth open. The water from the shower heads trickled down their bare bodies, pooling at Roxas's ankles. Axel gently pushed Roxas back against the wall to get away from the distracting water. When the kiss broke a second time, Roxas was flushed and completely out of breath.

"Thank you," he said softly, not sure what he was supposed to say in this situation. He felt like he'd done this before, though. With Axel, or with someone else?

"You're welcome," Axel smiled toothily, and the tongue gymnastics continued. The two boys kept on going, blissfully unaware of everything that was happening below both of their belts.

* * *

"I'm looking for a Japanese man, named Botan Shimizu."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Riku was blown back, once again, by the force of Sora's excitement. Why the kid was excited, he had no idea. He seemed fairly easily excitable.

"What, do you know him?" the vampire asked, with an eyebrow raised. The way he looked at Riku made him uncomfortable- like he could see all of his secrets. Riku couldn't stand vampires. He was beginning to regret ever coming to this place.

"_Know _him! Everyone knows him! He's the most infamous Other in Japan!" Sora gushed. Leon once again raised an inquisitive eyebrow in Riku's direction. Could he _please _stop doing that? "Why are you looking for him? What happened? He hasn't been in the World News for a really long time but neither has anyone else, and I'm getting really worried-"

"Whoa, Sora." Leon cut him off. "Take a step back. Let our _client _talk." He looked at Riku expectantly.

"Ah, you're right, Sora, he disappeared," he began irritably, under the heat of Leon's stare. "He was last seen here. That is, his last, ah, assignment-" he chose the word delicately- "brought him to New York City. No one's heard of him since then." Sora's eyes widened, and he moved to speak, but Leon stopped him.

"You said 'assignment.' May I ask who was doing the assigning?"

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you that." Riku refused to look away from Leon's prying glare. This guy was smart. He had no doubts that he was damn good at what he did, but all these questions were going to start putting him in a rather difficult position. He'd rather not be dead if he could help it. "All I can tell you is that I'm looking for Botan Shimizu and he was last seen in this city, about eleven years ago."

"No one's seen him in _eleven years_? Hate to break it to you, but he's probably _dead_, kid," Leon huffed. "Who exactly are you working for?"

"No one. I came on my own." The complete and honest truth.

"Can I believe you?" Leon cocked his head to one side. God, Riku hated vampires. Condescending bastards, the lot of 'em. "Sounds an awful lot like Shimizu's assigners sent you here to collect him. And you said you could pay me whatever I wanted- _you _certainly don't look like you have any money. Got a benefactor, kid?"

"They would never try to find him," Riku growled. "He's been dead to them since before he even left. No. I came by myself."

"He's telling the truth- he told me he snuck here from Japan on a boat," Sora said quietly. Riku had forgotten for a moment that he was even there- the huge-winged angel-teenager in the corner, as it were. Apparently so had Leon.

"People can lie to you too, Sora," he said, a bit too harshly, Riku thought. Sora winced.

"He wasn't lying." Riku looked at him, surprised. The angel was sticking up for him? But why? Sora saw Riku looking and gave him a shy smile, obviously an attempt to be reassuring. _Don't worry about Leon, he's always like this, _he seemed to be saying. Riku smiled a little back.

"Ok, well. If I'm going to take this job, I need to know what I'm dealing with. Sora. Tell me everything you know about 'Botan Shimizu,'" Leon ordered. Riku opened his mouth to protest and Leon silenced him. "No. I want to know how much _he _knows. The interested party can be next."

"Well, I already said he's an Other from Japan," Sora began in earnest, apparently thrilled to finally be important. "He's a spy and assassin. He's got teleportation powers, so it's really easy for him to break into places and hide. His record is a erratic, so it's rumored that he hires out his services as some sort of modern-day mercenary." Riku recognized the phrasing from a years-old World News article on the most dangerous people in the world. Someone actually _read_ that crap? "His most famous job was when he assassinated the CEO of the Sony Corporation, but he's linked with at least a dozen major crimes in the past decade. Uh, well, as of eight years ago, anyway."

"Sounds dangerous," Leon murmured at Riku. "Why do you want to find him, again?"

"Oh! And, he's a werewolf!" Sora finished triumphantly. Riku paled, and hoped no one noticed. Did everyone in the whole goddamn world know that? Leon was staring directly at Riku, but Sora continued on. "They say he got bit when he broke into the Bank of Japan. Werewolves for security, or something. He was found out when he went to a hospital to try to get treatment for the bite using a fake name. So of course the government investigated the bank, but by then they'd gotten rid of the werewolves…" Sora trailed off when he realized no one was listening. Both of Leon's eyebrows were raised now, and Riku felt decidedly ill.

"All… All of that is in the public record?" he asked weakly.

"Apparently, for anyone who cares enough to look for it," Leon smiled faintly at Sora. Sora beamed at the fleeting approval. He really was cute when he was excited. Riku dropped the thought. Leon was still talking to him. "So, ah, what was your name again?"

"Riku," he muttered, through gritted teeth.

"Full name, kid."

"Riku Hikaru." Riku looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"Riku Hikaru… what, exactly, are you asking me to get myself into?"

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to. But please. Any leads, any… anything you can give me… I don't know anyone in this city and I really, truly don't know what to do next. _Please._" He'd known in his deepest heart of hearts, as he set out on this mission, that this was exactly what was going to happen. No one would be willing to help him find a world-renowned terrorist. He supposed he would just have to keep searching on his own, then. After all, how many hiding places could there really be in New York City? Riku could feel his hope being strangled.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you started hunting for a dead man," Leon said quietly. "Look, I can't help you. I'm sorry." He turned to Sora, who looked dreadfully disappointed on Riku's behalf. Riku almost appreciated the meaningless gesture. "Sora, you can do whatever you want- you clearly know a lot about this guy, so who knows? And, by the way, I think you're ready for your first investigative job… we'll see if anything easy comes up in the next couple days." Sora whooped with joy and hopped into the air. Leon smiled, apparently a rare occurrence, and shook his head, and walked back into the back of the church, leaving Sora and Riku alone together. Sora sobered immediately when he saw the look on Riku's face.

"I'm sorry… Leon just likes to keep a low profile, is all. I mean, if I'd known you were looking for _Botan Shimizu-_" it might have been Riku's imagination, but he could've sworn that Sora's feathers shook with excitement- "I would have told you. But I guess you can't tell just anyone that, huh?" Wow- Sora was more insightful than he let on.

"Ah, no, I can't. How do you know so much about him?" Riku asked quickly, changing the subject. The less he talked about himself, the better.

"I love reading about famous Others, even the bad ones, especially the bad ones," Sora said simply. Then a broad smile broke out on his face. "My favorite is Démé Desmarais, you know, the water guy from France? You know him?"

"Of course I do." Fucker shut down all the sanitation systems in Kyoto for a month.

"Yeah, he's my favorite. He hasn't been on the World News in a while though." Sora's eyes widened, and his wings opened a bit. Riku was getting surprisingly used to the wing-speak. He even remembered to brace himself for the sudden gust. "You don't think he's gone missing, too?"

"Of course not. He probably just went into hiding and decided to give up his life of crime." Riku was never much of a conspiracy theorist.

"How do you know that's not what Botan Shimizu did then? I mean, he's been gone so long-"

"Trust me. I would know if that's what he did." Yes, Riku would most definitely have been told if Botan had gone into hiding. That was how he knew that the man had _disappeared _at best, been attacked or captured at middling, and been killed at worst. His tone of voice made Sora shut up fast, and Sora's wings dropped down as if he were trying to become invisible. The wing gestures were just so odd that Riku couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Dude. Do you think about what you're going to do with those things, or do they just sort of move around on their own?" he asked, grinning. Sora blushed, and his wings opened a bit and ruffled up the way they did when he was embarrassed. "See? Like that. You do that when you're embarrassed. Is it a self-preservation distraction thing or what? Like how little birds fluff themselves up to look bigger?" As he was speaking, Sora's face got redder and redder and his wings got fluffier and fluffier until finally Riku had to stop, since the poor guy looked like he was suffering immensely.

"No I do not have control over it," Sora grumbled. With a mighty flap, all of his feathers slid back into place. Unfortunately, Riku wasn't prepared, and he went sprawling. "Oh- Riku! Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Don't help me." Riku struggled back up to his feet, brushing off Sora's extended hand.

"Hmph. Fine." Sora took his attention away from Riku and focused intently on keeping his wings completely still. He sure was quirky, Riku had to hand him that much. How did he end up living with a stick-up-the-butt like Leon? Riku _really _didn't like vampires.

"How did you end up living here with that guy?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"He's Cloud's best friend. You know, my brother," Sora explained easily. Well, that was much less complicated than Riku was expecting. Whatever. He needed to get out of this place. The vamp-stank was making his nose twitch. He could smell all of the pig blood from upstairs.

"Oh. Well, that's nice. I, ah, I've got to go."

"Wait." Sora rubbed his nose. "Listen. You need help, you… well, I have a lot of free time, and I can fly. Not exactly a worthless skill to have, yeah?" He suddenly seemed a lot older than before. Riku was intrigued.

"I thought you and your vamp-buddy were kicking me out?"

"Oh, please. Leon ain't the boss of me," Sora grinned. Riku shook his head to hide the fact that dorky Sora made him smile.

"Ok. I need anything at all-"

"-you stop by," Sora finished. "At night, Leon's usually out working, and he's usually asleep during the day. My brother woke him up early today. So, you don't have to worry about running into him."

"Ok. Thanks, Sora. See you later."

"Bye, Riku." Riku re-secured his hat and left the church without looking back. What an incredibly strange person. What an incredibly strange person, indeed.

* * *

Yay! I am cranking these out much too quickly. R&R plz! Replying to reviews:

Ninny-na: It's ok, he'll get outside in a chapter or two :) And, uh, sorry you're confused- hopefully things will start to make sense. I hope.

XxXmaxium-riderXxX: Hey look it's Sora! Roxas is in it more 'cause he's actually doing stuff (well.. kinda) and Sora just kind of sits around on his butt. But he'll start doing stuff soon, promise.

Kirschli Kuchen- Bist du Deustche?? Your username makes me really want some KiBa- I can't find banana juice anywhere in the US :( And, YES for getting the Rockman reference! (For those that don't know and may be reading this, Rockman is the original Japanese name for Megaman. That's why his sister's name is Roll. Get it? Rock and roll? lolz) I should really have given Roxas a different name, every time I type it I giggle. I'm more of an original Megaman / X girl, though, I've never played or watched the anime.


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Sora clicked his new phone shut. Here he was, two days later, out and about on his very first job with Leon. It had been dull as all get out, and he heaved a sigh of relief that it was nearly over. Being a private investigator wasn't nearly as glamorous as stories made it out to be. The job was simple- a woman, nice lady, Other with some magic ability and a couple extra fingers, was willing to pay Leon a small sum of money to find out for sure if her husband was cheating on her. Sora had left the church as soon as the sun went down, and he'd been stuck following this asshole for hours. Then finally, on the way home from some bar where he'd been drinking with his buddies, he had taken the long way around and picked up a hooker. Sora had gotten camera footage of the transaction and the beginnings of the festivities, but had to wait for them to be done to collect any more "evidence" they might leave behind. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

The sounds and smells of the desperate fornication echoed up the sides of the alleyway to the fire escape where Sora was waiting, huddled with his wings fluffed up for warmth. He found it kind of unbelievable that anyone left in New York would do something so mundane as hire a prostitute on the street. He'd been expecting to either find nothing at all, or an elaborate scheme with another woman, possibly an entire secret family whose existence he'd been hiding for decades. That would have been exciting. But no. Just a hooker in an alley. Too ordinary for this day and age.

As the minutes dragged on and he waited for them to finish up already, Sora began to feel a familiar jangly in his dangly bits. Great. With an inaudible snort of frustration, he closed his eyes and began concentrating on the least sexy things he could possibly think of, mostly math problems. Such was teenage sexual frustration- a freak with two extra limbs, still a virgin well past age 18. Turned on by a married man raping a streetwalker for cash. Disgusting. Sending him on a job like this was torture. Trapped face-to-face with a foul perversion of what he himself so desperately wanted. His body itched to jump down there and just stop it, end it now, tell the woman to go home and watch some nice TV or something, maybe kick the man in the shins and ask what in God's name he was thinking. But Sora's best self-preservation instincts kept him where he was, and made him feel claustrophobic and nauseous. He was scum, just as much as the man ten feet beneath him.

Not nearly soon enough, it was over, and Sora breathed a quick sigh of relief. The man and woman fixed their clothing, and disappeared in different directions. He unfurled his wings, let them smooth out for a moment, then stepped off the fire escape and floated down to the ground. This close to the ground, in the stagnant city air, the smell of sex was overpowering. He found himself gagging as he quickly swept the ground with his eyes. Neither party had left anything behind, not even a condom, apparently. Sora made yet another note on his mental list of reasons Why My Client Should Divorce This Douchebag, and made yet an additional note to tell her to get checked for STDs. He didn't even use a condom? This entire night had been a non-ending cliché . But thankfully, it was over. Exhausted and opting for some walking rather than flying, Sora turned to leave the alley. After precisely eleven and a half steps, he was stopped by a rather large, hungry-looking dog.

"Oh, piss. Really? Shoo," he snapped. The dog tilted its head to one side, a creepy gleam in its big creepy eyes. Aggressive beastie, apparently. A thick drop of saliva slid from the side of its mouth, and splattered onto the concrete. The foul liquid had more than a little bit of red in it. Sora's eyes widened. _Oh my God. Did this thing attack someone? Is it rabid? No… if it had rabies it would be frothing at the mouth._ He took a closer look at the animal, difficult in the dark. The beast stared right back at him, as if waiting patiently for him to finish, an almost humanlike intelligence behind its greenish blue eyes. Suddenly, it clicked. _Werewolf_.

Sora screamed and stumbled backwards, a purely instinctive reaction to put as much distance between himself and the _frickin' werewolf_ as possible. Unfortunately, the wolf seemed to take his fear as its cue, and lunged just as Sora was spinning to run away. If Sora were human, he would have been deader than dead. But having an extra set of limbs could sometimes come in handy. Sora whacked the werewolf with his right wing as hard as he possibly could. The creature yelped as it went flying across the alleyway, and the wing howled in pain at being used as a crude bludgeon. Sora ignored it, adrenaline pumping. No time for injuries, and nowhere to go but up. He flew up towards the fire escape, and yelled in surprise at the sudden weight as the wolf sunk its teeth into his right sneaker. He kicked the beast in the face, lost the shoe, and flew all the way to the rooftop, ignoring the werewolf's angry howls.

Sora collapsed onto the roof and spent what felt like hours frantically checking his foot for teeth marks. He hadn't been bitten, but he was too agitated to do anything else. What was a werewolf doing in New York City? As far as he knew, the entire species had been effectively driven out of urban centers, appropriately deemed a threat to society. Their condition was debilitating and contagious, and unlike vampires, they had no control over the spread, and couldn't even hide in human form- over time, an infected wolf would begin to show signs. _Stay away from people with gray hair_ was such an ingrained message that people didn't even let their hair go gray naturally anymore, lest they be ridden out of town on a rail. Was this wolf hiding somewhere, or maybe being held during its transformation, and it escaped? Worst of all, it had bitten someone. He'd seen the blood. Which meant that there was at least one other werewolf in the city now, too. The thrill was fading, and Sora began to feel exhausted. Whatever it was, it could wait until after he gave his evidence to Leon and got some sleep. His wing still ached, but it would have to do. He set off on his awkward, lopsided homeward flight just as the full moon reached the peak of the sky.

* * *

Inside the Twilight Town Academy, a different sort of battle was raging. Today was Roxas's very first day of combat training. According to Professor Naminé, who had patiently explained everything, the goal of combat training was both to improve combat skills and also to demonstrate prowess with their special abilities. In other words, no-holds-barred free-for-all fighting. Roxas liked it that way. Plus, this would be his first opportunity to see just what his classmates could do.

"Hello, class. Please, team up with your battle partners." Roxas was paired with Saïx, the surly blue-haired boy who had been mean to Demyx on Roxas's first day. Demyx himself was fighting Marluxia, Zexion was fighting Luxord, and Axel was fighting Larxene. He had asked Axel about it, and apparently, the partners rotated for every single training, and sometimes they fought in teams. All of them had fought each other more times than they could possibly remember.

All of the students separated off into pairs. Roxas sized his battle partner up. He had no idea what Saïx's ability was, but the boy was slender enough that he didn't seem to be a physical threat. They exchanged greetings.

"Hello, Saïx."

"Hello, Roxas."

"Axel and Larxene will be fighting first," the combat and physical training coach, another blond woman who had introduced herself as Professor Éniman, said as she herded all of the pupils to the side to watch the fight. "Please remember what you have learned from your previous battles. Remember, we are not only collecting data, but also improving our combat skills. Today, first to land a blow wins." Axel and Larxene moved to opposite sides of the room, and bowed to each other politely. Roxas looked forward to seeing Axel fight- being able to set things on fire with your brain had to be pretty awesome. And, he also just liked seeing Axel's body move. He remembered their tryst in the showers, and a faint blush crept up his neck. "Ready? Fight!" Professor Éniman clapped her hands to signal the start of the duel.

Both students leaped into action immediately. Larxene lunged straight at Axel, just as Axel summoned a massive fireball and launched it at Larxene. The female fighter was, however, much too fast for him. She swerved to the side, tucked down into a handspring, and kicked upward with her heels. Axel narrowly dodged her feet and attempted to land a blow on her hip, but Larxene was too quick again. She had already hopped back onto her feet, and went to kick Axel in the head. He blocked her blow, but when he went to retaliate, she leaned backwards, swung her leg around, and aimed to land him a powerful kick in the kidney. Roxas was in awe. Axel seemed like such a graceful person, but here, Larxene was making him look like a slug. He narrowly dodged her kick from behind, only to smash right into her fist. The fight was over in less than a minute.

"Finished! The winner is Larxene. Nice work, both of you. Everyone, see how Larxene's excellent use of close-range combat negated the ability to use special powers. Remember this." Larxene and Axel bowed to each other, and returned to the side of the room. Roxas wondered what her special power was. "Next, Demyx and Marluxia." The two boys bowed. "Fight!" Roxas was surprised to see them provided with props, a small potted plant for Marluxia and a small fishbowl filled with water for Demyx. He supposed it made sense, since they were supposed to be using their powers. The instructor clapped.

Like Axel, Demyx went the full-frontal assault route. Their fighting styles seemed to be very similar. Marluxia anticipated the attack, and had already grown his tiny plant into a massive shield. The water splashed off harmlessly, but behind his first attack, Demyx had used the rest water to shoot himself forward at incredible speed. Before Marluxia even realized what was happening, Demyx landed a solid punch that sent him flying across the room. This fight was over in less than 10 seconds. Roxas was surprised and disappointed.

"Are they always this short?"

"Today we're doing 'first to land a blow wins.' Usually it's more like 'first to not be able to get up loses.' Depends on what the professor wants us to do. Wait until you see Zexion."

"Finished!" Professor Éniman was writing down something in her notebook. "Well done, Demyx, but remember, we are here to work on strategy, and brute force is not always the best solution. Zexion and Luxord, please." Bows were made, positions were taken. "First to land a blow wins. Fight!"

"How badly do people get hurt? I mean… no one's ever… _died_, have they?"

"Oh, no. The hospital can always heal us overnight," Saïx assured him. Well, good, then. No need to hold back. He didn't even hear the instructor's clap- it was almost a minute into the 'fight' before he realized it was going on.

Zexion and Luxord stood quietly, staring at each other. After a long minute, Roxas remembered that they were both psychic. He supposed that they were fighting internally, then. But how were they supposed to tell who was winning? Almost five full minutes passed, everyone completely silent. Suddenly, a dreamy expression crossed Luxord's face. Zexion remained perfectly still. Luxord sat down, crossing his legs, vaguely dopey expression on his face. His arms hung limply at his sides. Zexion walked over, and gently bopped him on the head, snapping him out of his trance. All in all, it was the weirdest fight that Roxas had ever seen.

"Zexion is the winner! Finished!" Zexion and Luxord walked back to the rest of the class. Well, that was bizarre.

"Does he not like fighting or something?"

"The physical stuff isn't his style," Saïx said with a faint smile. "Our turn, Roxas."

Finally! Roxas's turn. He was excited to show what he could do. He moved to the side of the room and bowed, like the other students before. Saïx bowed as well. Roxas carefully sized up his opponent, searching for a weak spot. _Always go for the weak spot. _The clap resonated through the open space.

Neither boy moved right away. Roxas waited patiently for Saïx to attack him. The blue-haired boy was hunched into an attack stance, but didn't seem to want to make his move. Probably a good idea. Roxas flexed his right hand, carefully directing the energy flow downwards. He'd only have an instant with the element of surprise.

Saïx yelled and lunged at him. Roxas dodged by going up. As he leaped into the air, he generated his weapon with a sharp flash of light. He was distantly aware of his classmates gasping in shock. _Always go for the weak spot. _Roxas swung his blade back, and with a precise slash, opened a shallow cut directly across Saïx's face.

The blue-haired boy howled as if he'd been stabbed. He clutched his face, screaming with pain and rage. Professor Éniman was in the background, frantically shouting at Roxas to discard his weapon. He ignored her. Blood was everywhere. He supposed he'd found Saïx's weak spot, then. He launched himself at Saïx, blade ready.

Saïx looked up at him, eyes yellow and murderous. He roared- an actual, feral roar- and grabbed the end of Roxas's sword, seemingly unfazed by the new spurts of blood and whatever pain the sharp edges were causing him. Roxas's eyes widened in shock. Saïx gripped the edges, effectively stopping him, and used the weapon as a lever to hurl him off balance and into the air. With an inhumanly powerful yank, Saïx pulled the sword from Roxas's hands, deepening the cuts on his own hand and wrist, and in the instant before Roxas could disband the weapon, Saïx slammed him in the face with the wrong end of the sword, sending him sprawling. Roxas yelped in fear. His nose was broken and bleeding, and before he could try to crawl away or beg for help, Saïx pinned him to the ground with his knees. The first punch was enough to make Roxas loopy, and the second one knocked him out of reality entirely. He was dimly aware that Saïx was beating the holy hell out of him, but his brain had thankfully dulled to protect him from the worst. His teeth flew everywhere, his eyes swelled shut, he could distantly hear Axel shouting his name. Just as Saïx was pulling back his fist for the finishing blow, Roxas felt everything in and around him shut down.

* * *

Being awakened in the middle of the night was not one of Kairi's favorite things, not by a long shot. But this time, she was in a panic. The alarms throughout the institute were screeching like crazy- _Total System Shutdown. _Was Naminé ok? No, she had to be. Kairi pulled her lab coat on over her pajamas and rushed out into the hall. She had spent every day of the past two years of her life complaining about having to live in an apartment on-site, but this time, she was grateful.

Six white hallways, an elevator, two staircases, and three high security doors later, and Kairi was sweeping magnificently into her laboratory. Her motley assortment of technicians was already there, but they were all just standing around looking at each other, and it was painfully obvious that none of them knew what to do. Penelo was strikingly absent. Neither had spoken to the other since the fight two days before, after which Kairi had woken up alone in the lab with dried blood all over her face, and Naminé shouting her name over and over. It was better this way. Kairi would deal with her later.

"You people couldn't even turn the _alarm _off?" she snarled, rapping a single button and restoring peace to the lab. "And Hayner, your hair looks like shit." He quickly closed his mouth and forgot whatever he was going to say. Her team fidgeted uncomfortably. She almost felt bad for them. They all dealt with hardware, not the program itself, and since the computer hadn't exploded, they were obviously completely lost. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed her assistant. Where the hell was she?

"All of you, you've probably realized there's nothing for you to do here. You can go back to bed. Where's Penelo?" As if on cue, Penelo slouched out from the back of the room. "Ok, now the rest of you, scram." The technicians obediently filed out, leaving the lab in peace. She and Penelo were alone, for the first time in two days.

"Listen. Don't start with me right now. Just save it for later- we've got problems. Any idea what happened?" Kairi asked sharply. Penelo shook her head, surprisingly willing to play by Kairi's rules. Not a word or a hint of a word was made over their earlier confrontation. Kairi decided to take as much advantage of this as possible while she still could.

"No, and I can't get into the system to talk to Naminé, either," she said flatly. So Naminé was hiding. That couldn't mean anything good.

"Leave her to me. She _likes_ me," Kairi said with a dangerous smile. She walked over to the main terminal and began punching in a series of codes. _Come on, Nam. I need to know what happened._ The nearest monitor hopped into action, and there was Naminé, a bit frazzled but seemingly ok.

"Hello, Kairi. I was waiting for you. Hello, Penelo," she added after she saw the other technician. Penelo swore.

"Shit! How the hell'd you do that?"

"I'll teach you sometime," Kairi promised icily, eyes trained on Naminé. "Get some paper ready, we're going to have to draw up a report. Nam, is everyone inside ok?" The blonde girl nodded, and Kairi heaved a sigh of relief. "Anyone hurt? What happened?"

"I am printing the combat practice log now." Kairi grabbed the paper and began mentally converting the code into battles, an odd process but necessary. Everything seemed totally normal. That is, until she got to Roxas and Saïx. She stared stupidly at what the code was telling her. _No way. This is impossible._

"Number 13 conjured a weapon out of pure energy," Naminé said firmly. "He wounded Number 7."

"And then Saïx went berserk," Kairi finished. "So, our buddy Number 7 reacts badly to blood? That's it? Why did the system shut down?" She wasn't really prepared to deal with figuring out what 'conjured a weapon out of pure energy' meant, though she had some ideas.

"I shut everything down. I could not stop Number 7. Number 13 was about to die." This time, Kairi and Penelo swore together. No one had ever even come _close _to dying inside the TTA. Kairi glanced over at the lunar calendar that she kept at her work station. Full moon tonight, which meant Saïx was at his strongest.

"How is he now?"

"Stable."

"Good." Penelo wordlessly shoved the draft of the report she had written up at Kairi, and she approved it. "Drop that off at Ansem's office. He'll want us to meet with him in the morning, obviously, but that should do for now. You can go back to bed, I'm going to stay here a little while longer."

"No, I'm staying."

"No, you're leaving." Kairi smiled passive-aggressively and waved her goodbyes. Penelo opened her mouth to speak, and Kairi cut her off. "You've already endangered both of us with your little outburst from before. Everyone knows we're down here, thanks to the alarm. I'd like to stay alive a little longer, wouldn't you?" Penelo seemed to weigh her options.

"Fine. Later." She turned and left. Kairi rolled her eyes and went back to the print-out in her hands. She felt like something was missing. She carefully read over the fight in question, eyeing for details. The passage she needed jumped out at her.

"Naminé! 'Subject 13 converted magical energy into a physical weapon, a blade approximately one half of a meter long. He made a cut across Subject 7's face, less than one centimeter deep.' He attacked Saïx's _face_?"

"Yes." Kairi was furious.

"You said his reprogramming was completed!" she thundered.

"Number 13's programming was completed. He has no memories of his pas-"

"BULLSHIT, Nam. Besides the hair, you know what Michael Adey's most distinguishing characteristic was? _The scar on his face._" It was true. The scar was legend. He had carved the perfect X onto himself in prison, after being arrested for blowing up some building in Perth. She was fuzzy on the details, but that just strengthened her point that _everyone _knew about that scar. She made a mental note to do some special research into Michael Adey's case mental inbox was getting crowded, and that combined with the lack of sleep was making her cranky. She was pissed at Naminé. "Rock Mann would have definitely known about it. But you know who shouldn't? _Roxas. _You been screwing up anyone else's programming lately that I should know about?"

"I am sorry. It will be corrected." Naminé actually looked ashamed. One of those glimmering flashes of humanity that made Kairi wonder just _what _she had created.

"Listen, Nam. I don't want to upset you. But you know we can't afford to fuck up." Naminé nodded. "There's a good chance it was just coincidence. But we can't afford to take the risk, you got me?"

"Number 13 is being reprogrammed now. Do not worry. He will have no memories of his life, or of these events. The other Nobodies will forget, too."

"Make sure you _scrub _him- I don't even care if you nick some of the vitals. That's a much less dangerous mistake," Kairi muttered. "And no more combat until the glitch is fixed."

"Understood. I will restart the program the next Twilight Town day." Twilight Town days were real-world nights, hence the nickname. They had been reversed so that during the day the tech teams could evaluate what had been done while the Nobodies were awake. So, Kairi would have a full day to grovel for forgiveness, then another night's sleep, and then back to her regular job. It would all work out.

"I suppose now would not be the best time to speak to you about the individual evaluations?" Oh, _fuck_. Kairi had completely forgotten about those. She had meant to talk to Naminé about it after he confrontation with Penelo, but she passed out and that kind of ruined the plan. And she was too preoccupied with trying to figure out why she psased out and then she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her about it after and oh shit, did she mess up.

"Whatever. Just give me all the bad all at once." She tried to relax into her chair as best she could, but it was a struggle. The chair really was a piece of crap.

"I do not know how to explain my findings to you, so I will try to the best of my ability," Naminé began. Oh, this was going to suck. Kairi longed for a pint. "The subjects are showing signs of their previous selves." Um. That was bad. Very, very bad.

"Tell me what _exactly_ that means, Nam."

"Well, Subject 8 is much more irritable than he has been in the past. Subject 9 was trying to sing, and Subject 6 reported strange dreams. Also, subjects 8 and 13 engaged in physical activity in the sanitation room-"

"AXEL AND ROXAS HAD SEX IN A SHOWER!?" Kairi screamed.

"There was no penetration-"

"Oh, that just makes it _so _much better! You realize that sex isn't supposed to _exist _in jolly Twilight Town, don't you, Naminé? What the hell have you been _doing _in there? And you didn't think it was at all important to tell me these things _before we had a fucking system shutdown?_" Kairi was ready to pull her hair out. She was going to lose her job. This was it. There was no way she'd be kept on the team after this. She could feel the tears building up behind her eyes. No! She would not cry!

"Kairi," Naminé said softly. "I am sorry. It is not my doing. I am trying to tell you, there is a… how do you say… glitch? In the system. And I believe it is related to Nobody 13. "

"Fine. I'm listening. You know what? Talk. I'm listening." Kairi nervously shifted her weight. Still uncomfortable.

"There is no programming mistake. The Nobodies are beginning to regain their personalities." Kairi stared at her incredulously.

"You erased their personalities, Nam. You told me as much yourself. Did you lie?"

"No. You simply cannot understand the complexity of the human mind."

"Please, Nam. You, of all people, should know that I understand the human mind just fine."

"Then you should know that memories cannot be _erased._ The brain is not a computer. To shape consciousness, one must use the pathways that exist in the mind itself. The mind has its own methods for disposing of memories that are troublesome."

"Repression," Kairi muttered darkly. Figures that Naminé would wait until a time of crisis to start breaking out the Freud.

"Exactly. Removing the subjects' most important memories is impossible without also removing essentials, so they had to simply be moved into an inaccessible part of the brain."

"And, surprise! Everything's all coming back to them. Who could have seen that coming?" Kairi asked sarcastically. Naminé shook her head.

"No. In the sterile environment, everything should have been normal. These memories are only being reactivated because of a trigger. I believe that in many cases, especially Subject 8, Subject 13 is that trigger. The fact that the effect is localized and that the other Nobodies are not yet showing signs of resurgence supports my theory. I do not have access to the inside of their minds, so I cannot be completely sure. My greatest concern, however, is Subject 6."

"Yes. Zexion. What about him?" Kairi fidgeted uncomfortably.

"He claims to have dreams. No one else in the system has dreams. I feel that his mind is the most fragile, because his memory work was not well done."

"Because it wasn't done by you," Kairi said tiredly. Dreams? Really? _What could he possibly be dreaming about?_

"Exactly. He claims to have begin dreaming about a girl shortly after Subject 12 entered the system, and that she is very familiar to him." Kairi sat up with a jolt. "That girl was Zexion's dearest memory. Removing her completely from the conscious part of his brain will be very difficult. Shall I go ahead?"

"…No. Not yet. Just… I need to think, Nam. I need to decide what our next move will be." She spun around in her chair. Sometimes the motion helped her think, but tonight, it just made her vaguely nauseous. Zexion's most important memory. "It's just… too much to take in. I'll get back to you later, ok? We'll figure it out together. You just make sure everyone is safe, ok?" Naminé nodded. "Oh, and do erase everyone's memories of what happened today, and wipe Roxas. We need to show that we responded to the incident," she added, almost as an afterthought. "It's a shame, but, it needs to be done. We need to hold on for as long as we can."

"I understand. Good night, Kairi." Naminé blipped out, and the lab was dark and still. Kairi held her head in her hands. She had never felt so hopeless in, well, since as long as she could remember. _What on Earth am I going to do?_

Just outside the door, Penelo quietly left her hiding place and walked back to her room.

* * *

_Hello, class. We have a new student today. His name is Roxas. Welcome Roxas._

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

A BRIEF INTERLUDE.

* * *

The first time Alexei Gorodetsky met the infamous Rock Mann, he was in prison. He was somewhere in Warsaw, captured by the Poles, of all people. Knocked into the Vistula by a kamikaze cop car and scooped up by a stray fishing boat. Humiliating, really.

The cell he was in was small, and every surface was of course fireproof. They'd probably gone so far as to line the walls with asbestos or something, hoping he'd die of lung poisoning before they had to decide what to do with him. Alexei paced the tiny room, swaying to and fro on his dangerously thin waist. He had to find a way out of here. _No way _was he going to get executed in fucking Poland. Or anywhere else, for that matter. No, Alexei Gorodetsky was not a bug to be squashed. Now that that was settled, he just needed to come up with a plan. Alexei was never much of a thinker, so he figured he'd just burn the door down and torch his way out. It'd worked for him in the past.

He was startled out of his scheming by shouts and gunfire. The harsh cracks echoed all the way into his cell. _Someone's breaking into the complex? _He instinctively pressed his back against the wall beside the door. He knew _exactly_ what this meant. Someone was coming to kill him. Figures that his handlers knew him well enough to know he wouldn't be willing to kill himself to preserve _their_ integrity. No 'mission' (for wreaking havoc for the sake of havoc could hardly be called a mission) was important enough for that. The shots were getting closer. If anyone came into this room, he'd have an instant to fry them before they fried him. Burn or be burned. The high-security doors whirred and began to slide open. One, two, three, almost time to go, fire it up, ready-!

Just as Alexei was making his move, an automatic rifle pressed up against his heart. Surprised green eyes met cool blue ones. The boy looked much too young to be a professional assassin. But then, Alexei himself was only 16.

"Eh?" He laughed nervously. "Chyort, kotoryi vy?" The small blonde boy's eyes narrowed. He fired a few shots down the hall from the gun in his other hand.

"Ich sprech' kein Russisch," the boy said flatly. Alexei recognized the language to be German, but had no idea what the kid had said. They'd not only sent a kid, but a _German _kid,to put him down? How insulting.

"Ah…" Alexei's English was absolutely terrible. He'd grown up in a small town, so he'd learned English as an adult, and now his accent was so thick as to be barely understandable. He would be laughed out of any city. But he supposed he didn't really have a choice right now. "You speak English?" His own harsh, guttural pronunciation ground out like a can-opener that hadn't been used in six years, and made him wince.

"Nein. No. Eh, no English. Und no _Russisch._" Blondie seemed to struggle with the words even more than he did. At least that was some consolation. And Russisch must be German for Russian- he didn't speak Russian. Well, this was going to be fun. Just like a big ol' silent party. Why hadn't this guy shot him yet? "Sie kommen. Gehen wir." Alexei rolled his eyes, _hey, buddy, can't understand a word you're saying, _but was sharply cut off.

"Auf GEHT'S!" The slender German was much more frightening than he appeared. With a simple wrist motion, he tore Alexei, who was almost a foot taller, all the way around to his front, as if to use him as sort of a human shield. Before he could so much as whine at being manhandled, Alexei Gorodetsky was being shoved out into the long, top-security hallway that led to his should-be cell. Dead, mutilated, bullet-riddled bodies lay strewn across the floor- evidence of his new friend's handiwork. He had to admire the thoroughness, even if the messiness of the wounds was a little grotesque. Alexei felt that he slaughtered people with much more style, and dearly wished that he could turn to his rescuer and tell him so. _You kill like a two-year old let loose in mom's closet with three pairs of dull scissors. _A new wave of guards was running towards them, flooding into what was apparently some kind of prison block.

Alexei turned, and was surprised to see the blonde boy looking at him expectantly. So, this was why he'd been put in the front. Well, he was nothing if not able to clear out enclosed spaces, right? Though he'd need a lot of heat for this one. The air began to sizzle and hiss.

"Eh? Was machst du?" the German asked suspiciously. This had to end.

"I _cannot understand you_," Alexei growled, still cranking up the temperature in the hallway. He figured English was a lot closer to German than Russian was, even if his was terrible. At least he was _able _to communicate, unlike some people, who for the moment would remain nameless. Mostly since Alexei couldn't ask him what his name was.

"No English," the boy repeated irritably. Ok, so he could say one thing. Maybe Alexei should just call him No-English? Nish for short. He smiled at the silly nickname, saw how inappropriate it was for the surly foreigner, and it stuck.

Just as the hallways reached the right heat, the corpses were beginning to smoke, giving them quite good cover. Alexei could still hearthe guards, though- still at least fifty yards away. The other boy was coughing. _What, Nish, you thought I'd protect you from the smoke? You play with fire… _Flames leaped out around his forearms, dancing, ready to be fanned into an inferno. Time to leave.

Alexei screamed, and the entire complex went up in flames. The tortured cries of countless burn victims filled his ears, guns firing at random, bodies writhing in the fire, twisting together into a hideous mass of melted metal and charred flesh. This shimmering tableau of horror was rather everyday to him, and it was easily blocked from his mind. He strode purposefully forward, a path of least resistance opening up before him, like a conqueror whose subjects bowed low as he moved past. Within seconds, he realized that his would-be rescuer was not keeping up. He turned to check on him, and saw him succumbing to the fire. Nish evidently could not take the heat.

A long moment passed, and Alexei tried to decide whether to leave him. He may be a mass-murderer, but he wasn't one to turn his back on someone who'd done him a favor. _The Honorable Thief taken to its horrifying logical conclusion,_ he thought grimly. Ignoring the smell of the sweat and the mumbles of protest, he scooped up the shorter boy and set off towards the exit at a run, long legs carrying them easily over all manner of smoldering remains. His left boot sank into something squishy. He'd have to burn these and steal some new ones later.

They reached the exit to the prison block, and erupted from the smoke and fire. The boy in his arms was struggling for breath and hacking like a chain smoker, but Alexei opted to ignore him. Which way now? Four different hallways branched off in different directions. He had to choose one. Nish had to know, since he had gotten in here, after all. Setting him down, back on his own two feet, still clutching his two guns, it was now Alexei's turn to look expectant, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Danke," the boy muttered softly, stifling a final cough. He gestured with a gun and led Alexei over to the hallway one from the left. They reached the exit, alarms began wailing, and the automatic doors slid shut. Alexei let out a string of swears in heated Russian, but was silenced when Nish handed him a gun. Why did he need a gun? All of _his _weapons were safely stored inside his body, thankyouverymuch. The German shook his head, apparently in response to the look Alexei was giving him, and snapped his fingers, summoning a key card. The object glittered in his hand, twinkling as if it knew a particularly juicy secret and wasn't going to tell anyone. _So that's what this guy's ability is?_

As soon as the key card was inserted into a nearby terminal, the alarms shut off and the doors opened. That magic-crafted key was the real deal, then. Top security clearance. Alexei found himself wishing he could ask his new pal about it, but there was no time. Angry voices were approaching from one of the halls. The two teens set off at a sprint down the hallway Nish had indicated, Alexei keeping one eye trained on his new partner. He had no way to ask where they were going, so all he could do was follow. Where he was now was better than where he'd been before he met Nish, so he supposed he'd just have to keep trusting him. Even if he wasa filthy German.

At the end of this hallway was another branch of five hallways, and at the end of that hallway was yet another branch of five hallways. The complex was enormous. Alexei wondered briefly if the good people of Warsaw knew that this was down here, and if anyone would be willing to pay him to let them know. And then, suddenly, there was an exit. A staircase leading to a door. They were almost out.

Nish pushed forward from Alexei- damn, that kid was fast- tossing a gun to the side and conjuring another key. He raced up to the door and jammed it into the lock. Alexei was already dreaming about the long shower he was going to take, followed by some pie, possibly a nap. But then, nothing happened.

"Hey!" Alexei shouted at him, unable to ask what was going on. Nish slid the key in and out a few times, frantically. Well, great. Just great. The exit was right there, and Alexei was going to be stuck down here like a smoked fox. Swell. Unfortunately, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

"Sorry, gentlemen. Changed the locks." Alexei and Nish whirled around, and found themselves targeted by an entire squadron of nervous-but-determined looking Polish soldiers. Nish's face remained stony, clearly having not understood what the man said, while Alexei raised both his eyebrows. _Changed the locks? _Scanning the crowd, he quickly sized up his odds. He wasn't sure he could fry them all before they fired. He could probably melt the door, but it would take time, and he'd get attacked while he was doing it. Either way, it looked like he was going to have bullet wounds.

Nish grunted. Alexei risked a glance over at him. Nish gave the slightest nod. All right, then, Alexei was going for the door. The air around him began to heat up, frighteningly fast.

"Put your hands on your heads!" the officer shouted. Alexei rolled his eyes, and balled his hands into fists, fighting down the urge to throw the troops a rude hand gesture. The small German almost certainly wasn't a strong enough fighter to hold these people off for long- he would be more of a distraction. Well, Alexei was going to _live_, dammit. What the kid did or didn't do wasn't his problem.

In a single moment, he whipped around and blasted all the heat in his body at the unforgiving steel doors. He felt the metal bend ever-so-slightly. Not enough power. He was dimly aware of guns firing all around him, but he wasn't worried. No way the bullets would make it through the heat wave. He was too focused to worry about what was happening to his partner, but in a moment of weakness, he craned his neck to see what had happened to him. His mouth formed a small "oh!" of surprise.

Nish was glowing. He had torn his shirt off because of the heat, revealing a scrawny yet commanding torso, cross-hatched with scars. His arms were wide and his body crouched slightly, apparently supporting the weight of two enormous, glittering energy swords that he must have conjured himself. The bullets clattered harmlessly to the floor, and Nish lowered his two massive weapons. He laughed, a shrill, cold sound. Then he dove into the flock of armed Poles. Alexei stayed long enough to watch him slice a soldier diagonally in two, no resistance at all, viscera exploding across the crowd, and then turned back to the door, fighting down vomit.

The steel was melting, sliding slowly downwards as Alexei forced the temperature higher and higher. No way a human could get close to him now. He threw his head back and opened his mouth, gasping for air as he pushed. His knees were beginning to shake. Curdled screams rang out behind him. The roaring in his ears made it difficult to hear. A tiny hole opened in the center of the door, surrounded by glowing metal almost red enough to match his hair. The opening grew, oozing outwards, yawning into a self-made doorway. Alexei held on until the opening was three feet in diameter. And then the heat disappeared.

"Alexei!" Nish was suddenly beside him, slick with sweat and blood that wasn't his own. Alexei was too weak to respond. His too-long legs folded, and he collapsed into the melted door. A hand grabbed him, and Alexei was surprised to feel himself being half-lifted, half-pushed through the smoking opening he'd just made. Nish hooked his arm underneath Alexei's shoulders, and together they struggled out of the pit, Nish speaking frantically on a cell phone in German. As they reached the sunlight, a car pulled up to greet them, and Alexei blacked out.

About two hours later, Alexei woke up on a bed in a cheap motel. Instincts kicking in, he sat up quickly and listened carefully for signs of anyone else nearby, body surging with discomfort at being asleep in an unfamiliar place. No one was around. Except Nish, watching him curiously from a nearby armchair. Was he the one who had brought him here? At least they finally had a chance to talk. Sort of.

"What is your name?" Alexei asked softly. He felt he had the right to know that much from his rescuer.

"No English." Alexei's eye roll hurt his head, and he reached for the motel paper on the nightstand and scribbled something down. WAT IS YOUR NAME. He was very pleased with himself for remembering the silent U in YOUR. He held up the paper for Nish to see. Nish studied it carefully, then took the paper and pencil from him, writing something underneath, hiding his handiwork from Alexei's prying eyes. He held up the paper with a smile. MEIN NAME IST ROCK.

"Rock? Alexei," he said, formally introducing himself with a hand on his chest and a cheesy half-bow. Rock kept smiling, and nodded. Of course, he already knew Alexei's name. Alexei was his mission.

"I call you 'Nish,'" Alexei grinned mischievously. Rock shook his head, not understanding. Alexei stole the paper back, and in an as-yet empty corner, he wrote the words NO ENGLISH. Then he messily crossed out everything between N and ISH. "Nish. This is you." Rock glared at him.

"Es ist nicht meine Schuld," he muttered irritably. Alexei shrugged his shoulders. Then Rock's phone rang.

"Eh…" he gestured wildly, and Alexei picked up on the message. Rock had to leave. But that didn't change the fact that the strange little man had saved his life.

"Spasibo bolshoye. Thank you." He used both languages, in the hope that one of them would get through.

"Bitteschön, Alexei," Rock said softly. "Bis später."

* * *

THANK YOU to everyone who has faved, subscribed to, or reviewed this story! Keep 'em coming. (Oh, and I got flamed, LOL. ;) ) This story will be going on for quite a while yet (I have it outlined through chapter 11, and that's nowhere close to the end, lol), so no worries to the folks begging me to continue. I, for one, am quite excited to find out what Demyx was like when he was alive. Oh, and for added fun, read all of Axel's lines out loud in a really thick Russian accent. Hilarious.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews! I finally figured out how to reply properly, go me, lol. Also, the number of hits this story has been getting shot up a bit when I switched the primary characters to Axel and Roxas. Hi, AkuRoku fans! REVIEW PLZ :)

* * *

Sora waited impatiently, tapping his recently de-shoed foot on the worn wood floor of his new home. The potential splinters were concerning him a bit, but he pushed it out of his mind. He needed to talk to Leon _rightnow. _He'd just seen a frickin' werewolf in midtown Manhattan. Many different kinds of not right. His wings were rumpled with irritation, and the unordered feathers were making him even more agitated, like when you pet a cat the wrong way and it hisses at you but Sora was too anxious to preen himself and God, where was Leon already?

The vampire finally banged into the church right before dawn. Especially irritable today, he didn't even acknowledge that Sora was standing there, and strolled neatly around him on his way to the stairs. It took Sora a second to realize what had happened, and he whirled around, sending feathers flying everywhere.

"HEY. I need to talk to you," he shouted indignantly. Leon ignored him and kept walking. "HEY!" Sora spread his wings and jetted across the room, over-dramatically planting himself right inside the doorway to the upstairs, wings opened in a defiant posture, effectively forcing Leon to speak to him. Yes, Sora could move quite quickly when he so desired.

"What is it, Sora?" Leon asked tiredly. He looked like absolute walking death- there were huge circles under his eyes and his skin was even more pallid than usual. What had _he _been doing all night? "Don't tell me you managed to screw up that job…"

"No, the job was fine. Dude picked up a hooker. Stop changing the subject!" Sora was getting a little disoriented from lack of sleep. He'd been so focused on talking to Leon that now that he was standing right in front of him, he couldn't quite remember what his issue was. Oh, that's right. "I got attacked by a werewolf!"

Leon woke up a bit at that, and the usually stony-faced vamp's eyes actually widened noticeably. "Where?"

"Wherever that guy and that lady were doing it. Uh, west side somewhere."

"I meant you. Where did it bite you." Leon's face was full of concern, and a little bit of what appeared to be panic. Of course. If anything happened to Sora, Cloud would break out the garlic and holy water and murder him in the worst possible way. Assuming that garlic and holy water actually worked on real-life vampires. Sora made a mental note to ask about it sometime. Leon grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him once, bringing him back to reality. "Sora, this is serious! Answer me!"

"It d-didn't bite me," Sora stammered out. Relief swept over Leon, visibly switching him back to his normal grumpy self. "It ate my shoe, though." He pointed down to his conspicuously bare foot, and Leon snorted. Leon wasn't the type to laugh. "Why was it here?"

"I don't know. It was probably your friend," Leon said with a shrug. "Though he should know better than to let himself transform outside. He probably hurt someone. We're going to have to go out and find him."

"What friend? I don't have friends." Sora was so used to not having friends that the statement came out with no emotional weight at all, like declaring that his hair was brown. In another time and place, it would have been unbearably tragic, but for Sora, it was just a fact of life.

"The kid who was here earlier this week. No-eyebrows, wants-to-find-terrorists kid. R-something."

"_Riku_?" Dark-and-mysterious, funny-hat Riku? No way.

"Yeah, Riku. Pretty sure that's not his real name, though."

"There's no way Riku is a werewolf!" Sora protested. Seriously, what are the odds that he would make one friend and have him turn out to be a _werewolf_? At this rate, everyone he knew was going to have some kind of groty and debilitating life condition. Not that Sora would ever admit to Leon's face that he thought of vampirism as a groty, debilitating life condition. "And how can you say that that's not his real name? Why would he lie?"

"People don't need a _reason _to lie, Sora," Leon said impatiently. Sora opened his mouth to protest again, and Leon silenced him with a finger to his lips. "Secondly, that kid _screams_ werewolf. You know better than this, Sora. People don't shave their eyebrows for fun. He was trying to hide his hair. He must have been infected young though, if his eyebrows are already showing… that usually takes at least a few years…" Leon trailed off, talking to himself more than Sora, now. His brows were furrowed in thought.

Werewolves. The topic made Sora uncomfortable. He was uneasy in the long silence, and tried to think of something to lighten the mood.

"At least being a vampire doesn't change your hair color, eh, Leon?" he said lamely, indicating Leon's long, chocolate brown hair. Leon was indeed pulled out of his preoccupation, but instead of continuing the conversation, he gave Sora a sharp glare.

"I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up."

"Oh, Leon, I'm sorry, I-" Leon ignored him and shoved him roughly out of the way, storming up the stairs and out of sight. Sora sighed, and leaned his cheek against the wall, suddenly too exhausted to stand properly. How could Leon still be so touchy? One would think that 22 years of vampirism would have made him used to it by now, but apparently not. Sora remembered the blood mixed with oatmeal and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He supposed that he wouldn't be able to get used to it, either. But hey, at least Leon could go outside for half the day! Sora was stuck with two wings that somehow managed to scare the crap out of everyone who came into contact with them, despite his own personal and vain opinion that they were actually quite pretty. He'd heard of Others who had tentacles for arms, for Pete's sake. His situation could be so, so much worse. So why was Leon such a jerk all the time?

Sora flew up to his "room," a for-lack-of-a-better-word nest snuggled deep in the rafters. It consisted of a mattress, his computer, and a small bag with clothes. He had to admit, sleeping in the ceiling of an old church was pretty awesome. _I'd never get to do this if I were human._ He folded his wings in and tumbled onto his bed, a much more graceful action than it a spider off of his pillow, Sora lay down on his belly, the way he usually slept, wings drooping into a relaxed resting position.

Now that he was suitably comfy, Sora's sleepy thoughts went back to his werewolf incident. What had Leon meant when he said they'd have to go out and find Riku? The more he thought about the strange boy, the more obvious his condition became, and the more stupid Sora felt for not noticing it right away. He supposed that he'd just been so excited to talk to someone besides Cloud and Leon, he'd let himself get uncautious. Not a crime, by any definition. But what did it mean that Riku might have attacked him, then? And what would have happened if he'd actually been bitten? Sora imagined a silver wolf with shining white wings, fluttering about the skyline, terrorizing the citizenry. A smile appeared on his face as he gently fell asleep.

* * *

The following morning, Riku awoke in a gutter with no clothes , he was a living cliché. Wait, a gutter? Was he _outside_? He lifted a hand in front of his face, and his fears were confirmed when he realized that he could see it quite clearly. Then he instinctively reached up to check for his hat. Gone. Ok, so today was going to have to be a little sneakier than normal. Most importantly, had he bitten anyone? Impossible to tell- he had no memories from his transformations. But in any case, there was nothing he could do about it now. He stifled the panic as best he could. First off, he had to find his clothes, or at the very least beat someone up and take some, like last time. He wasn't going to get very far in the city looking the way he did. Not that he'd gotten very far in the city as it was.

He took a deep breath. He smelled like burnt hair and ass, and he was a little sore, but he didn't seem to be injured. His face hurt. Before the sun had gone down, he'd stripped and blockaded himself in the basement of his abandoned warehouse. After the transformation, he had apparently broken out and rampaged the city. And now, he had absolutely no idea where he was, not to mention that the exposure was making him a bit uncomfortable.

Carefully checking around to make sure no one was watching, Riku discovered that the street was completely empty except for some heavily intoxicated bums, and he pulled himself out of the gutter and slipped into a nearby alleyway. He wished there was an easier way to hide his hair, but his flowing silver mane was irrepressible. Nothing for it but to wait until he found another hat, or a jacket with a hood. He felt his face, and found with dismay that his eyebrows had already grown back. Stupid wolf hair.

"Hiya. You looking for something?" Riku whipped around, and saw that his addressor was a young boy, an Other, who smelled vaguely of something gross, possibly old brie. Well, great. All he needed now was for someone to walk in and see him chatting up a stinky little kid while he was butt naked. He could see the headlines now: _Pedophile Werewolf Shows Local Boy Full Moon_.

"Well… yeah. Clothes."

"Are you a werewolf?"

"What do you think?" Riku flipped the ends of his hair. He had briefly considered lying, but realized how stupid that was. The kid hadn't run away yet, in any case, so no harm in confirming the truth.

"Oh. Cool." _Cool? _Riku realized that this was the first time in a few days that he'd had an almost normal conversation with someone. He'd heard that there was a high concentration of Others in New York City- and he could see why, with the filthy air- but enough that people here were completely unfazed by werewolves? Not likely.

"That doesn't scare you?"

"It's daytime." An excellent point. Riku liked this kid. He'd finally met someone in New York who not only would talk to him, but was also able to go outside.

"What's your name?"

"Kytes. You?"

"Riku." A pause. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen." _Seventeen!? _The kid looked age 10, at best. Possibly a stunted 12-year-old.

"You serious?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Uh. Cool." Why was this kid so eager to talk to him, anyway?

"You were in our gutter, and I came out to see if you needed help."

_**Our**__ gutter? _"Oh, uh, sorry. I guess I just thought it was, um, a gutter. The normal kind."

"Yeah, it's our gutter. You said you needed clothes?" Riku did in fact need clothes, but he wasn't sure he wanted to dress like this kid. Kytes looked like a quilt without the art. His tube-like garment was cobbled together out of scraps in a variety of colors and textures, and another rag belted the whole ensemble in place. "Beggars can't be choosers," Kytes admonished. God, that was creepy. Like the kid could hear his thoughts.

"I _can _hear your thoughts," he smiled. He reached up and pushed his white-blonde hair out of the way, revealing an extra set of ear holes behind the normal ones. The stale cheese smell intensified, and it was all Riku could do to stop from recoiling in horror. Green liquid oozed lazily out of the grimy hole. "Yeah, I know, they're gross. But useful. That's how I know you're not dangerous. And you need clothes. I brought you some. Come on." Riku followed obediently, out of curiosity more than anything else. He could beat up one frail child-teenager if the need arose. Kytes shook his head. Within moments, they were back to the gutter where Riku had woken up.

"You must have been attracted to this place as a wolf because of the magical energy," Kytes explained. "Werewolves love Others." Riku blanched- he had never given a second thought to what kind of people he'd like biting. He was mainly obsessed with _not doing it_. The panic in his gut threatened to bubble up again. "Or so I'm told," Kytes added quickly. Not having to talk was nice.

"Yeah, my friends think that, too. Here." Riku watched as Kytes closed his eyes to concentrate, then reached into a nearby grate and pulled out, well, clothes. A magic doorway? It had been quite some time since Riku had had to tap into his magical senses to find something.

"Not many people use hidden doors anymore- they're more concerned with blending in with humans. Hiding in plain sight," Kytes responded easily to Riku's thought. That was making Riku several sorts of uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. It's just, I didn't think you were actually going to ask. I can wait for you if you'd like."

"Uh, thanks, Kytes." Kytes wordlessly offered Riku the clothes, which he was pleased to see were much more conventional than what Kytes was wearing, and outfitted with a nice-sized hood. He quickly pulled everything on, and let out a sigh of relief at finally being covered up. Kytes laughed.

"I never thought I'd meet a shy werewolf," he said with a grin. A blush crept into Riku's cheeks.

"I'm not _shy…_" he muttered defensively. The irritated thought, '_At least I don't smell like burnt egg yolks_' passed through his mind before he could stop himself. He looked somewhat apologetically at Kytes, and the boy just waved him off.

"No one else has ever commented on my having a smell before, at least not as graphically as you do- you must have a very sensitive nose."

"Duh. Wolf."

"Of course." Now that he was decent, Riku took a moment to observe his surroundings, and realized once more that he had absolutely no idea where he was. The street was empty except for the few now-slumbering homeless people, and several boarded-up delis. The only open business was the 24-hour liquor store. Where was he? He was a little surprised when Kytes didn't answer him right away, and then remembered their agreement.

"Where are we?"

"104th and Amsterdam," he said smoothly, clearly having prepared the answer. Riku glanced over at the nearest street corner, and saw no street signs or indicators of location whatsoever.

"Uh. What does that mean?"

"Upper west side." _Upper west side!? _Based on his adequate-at-best knowledge of the neighborhoods in the city, Riku deduced that he had traveled _ass far_, then. Why would he have moved so far from the warehouse?

"Uh, could you point me in the right direction to go downtown?" Kytes pointed down what must have been Amsterdam Avenue. "Thanks, buddy."

"You're welcome. If you want to come back here or speak to me again, just come to this intersection and follow the magic." _Thanks, I guess, but how the hell am I supposed to find this intersection? _"It's the west side, so you can follow the sun, if nothing else. We're very close to the northwest corner of Central Park." Riku shook his head.

"It's impossible to be sarcastic around you, isn't it," he said ruefully. Kytes laughed again.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Goodbye, Riku. You're closer to what you're looking for than you think." At that, Kytes turned and walked away. Riku felt like he'd been socked in the gut. He was breathless.

"What did you mean by that!?" he shouted, but Kytes was gone without a trace. Not even his smell was left, smoothly replaced with the scent of digested alcohol and dry air.

* * *

On the other side of the city, later on that very same day, Cloud was finishing up his shift. Why did so many people want to order pizza in the middle of the day on a Sunday? There must be a game on or something. Cloud had never understood the appeal of Blitzball, but maybe that was just because he hadn't owned a TV since before his parents died. Lost in thought, he almost missed it when a rickshaw screeched to a halt directly in front of him. He slammed on the brakes and swerved his motorcycle, throwing the driver a vulgar hand gesture as he passed. His bike's engine easily drowned out whatever the man shouted back at him as he sped away. Fuckin' rickshaws, honestly.

Yes, Cloud was a pizza delivery boy. He didn't mind the work, as it kept him outside and moving, and he'd learned a ton of awesome motorcycle tricks while dodging crowds on the streets of New York. The problem was that it barely paid him enough to cover his bike's fuel, and on top of that, people living in the city were so poor that he was almost never tipped. He wondered how his employer even stayed in business. In any case, this was his last delivery before he was going back downtown to meet up with Sephiroth and see his new apartment.

Cloud spun around a corner and onto 5th Avenue, sending an overfull garbage can flying. With practiced ease, he held up the address in his hand, looking it over without slowing the bike down at all. In seconds, he was outside a rather ritzy apartment building. He skidded to a halt, and crammed his _Famous Famiglia_ hat on over his unruly blonde hair, swinging the pizza bag over his shoulder.

The lobby was covered in polished marble tile, in a vaguely interesting pattern of alternating black and white blocks. A chandelier dropped down from the high ceilings, and an uninterested doorman refused to look up from his book. Cloud was quite used to uninterested doormen, and quite aware that everyone living in this building would just as soon spit on him as look at him, so he started right into his spiel.

"Hi, pizza delivery for-" he pulled out his address- "Tilmitt, 17B?" The doorman gestured at a nearby elevator, still not looking up. "Thanks," Cloud sighed, and dragged his pizzas over to the 'up' button.

The elevator several minutes to come, and even then, it was painfully slow. Apparently whoever owned this building hadn't bothered to invest in an upgraded elevator for about fifty years. The pizzas were going to get cold, and then he was going to have to deal with some rich bitch whining about her cold pizza. Ok, so there were some aspects of his job that Cloud did mind. A cheerful ding signaled that he had reached the 17th floor, and he walked out, located the door marked 'B,' and knocked politely.

"Oh, one second!" Cloud could hear several voices, indicating some kind of party. Well, it's not like anyone ever ordered pizzas just for themselves. Except Sora, who ordered take-out all the time and then hid behind the open door while he paid the delivery guy. Hilarious. The one time Cloud had been that delivery guy, he had almost died laughing. He really was looking forward to seeing his kid brother again.

The door opened, revealing a short and slender Asian woman with a handful of bills. "Are you 'Tilmitt'?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. Selphie. How much do I owe you?" Cloud got a glimpse of a small group in the living room, crowded around what must have been a TV.

"$49.99." Selphie handed him three twenty dollar bills.

"Keep the change. You're cute," she winked, took her pizzas, and closed the door. Cloud tucked the cash into his pocket and pushed the down button on the elevator, ignoring the woman's compliment. Ten extra dollars! He could get Sora an egg cream or something. He was planning on heading over to the church right after seeing his new apartment, since he'd promised to come this weekend, and he knew Sora would hold him to it. The boy's memory was a curse, really.

Cloud strode out of the expensive lobby without saying goodbye to the clerk, and swung his leg over the saddle of his beloved motorcycle. First stop was back at the restaurant to drop off his uniform, then straight down to the lower east side to Sephiroth, and then Sora. Busy night.

Ditching the uniform was easy enough, and Cloud soon found himself gunning down the east side. He picked a low-traffic side street, since there were fewer people to dodge that way. Even so, Cloud found himself weaving in and out of foot traffic, pushing so as not to lose time. He was suddenly paranoid about being late to his meeting with Sephiroth. He expertly avoided an older woman surrounded by a gaggle of children, a nonspecifically disabled man being pushed in a chair by what appeared to be his wife, and a shopkeeper laden down with preserved vegetables. The money was noticeably draining out of the neighborhoods the farther south he went- the buildings got smaller, the people got leaner, the businesses were fewer and farther between. Every once in a while, a relatively neat row of buildings would break into an open clearing, filled with rubble- evidence of the limited fighting that had gone on here a decade before. The poorest families had formed small camps, somewhat protected by the chunks of broken stone. Even so, the island had gotten off fairly easy. Brooklyn and Queens had been hit hard, not Manhattan. God knows why.

Cloud spun into Alphabet City, kicking up dirt as he went. Sephiroth's apartment was easy to find, as it was located in the shadow of one of the massive anchors that connected the APDs to the ground. So that was why the apartment was so inexpensive. No one wanted to live under an APD! Except Cloud, apparently. He wasn't that picky.

He parked his motorcycle on the sidewalk, and looked for a door. Sephiroth had told him that he was apartment C. The name on the bell said _S. Smith. _Well, _that _was a boring and predictable choice for a fake name. Cloud had expected better. He pushed the button twice, the door buzzed, and Cloud pushed it open. The building looked small enough to be only one apartment per floor, so apartment C must be on the third. He walked up two flights of warped wooden stairs. Sephiroth was waiting in an open doorway.

"Hey, Cloud. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up," Sephiroth said smoothly, leaning lazily against the door frame. Sex radiated off of him. Cloud was a little weak at the knees.

"Of course I was going to show up," he replied stupidly, unable to come up with a suitably witty comeback. "B-but I can't stay that long, I have to visit my brother." God, Cloud did not stutter! He struggled to get back the motorcycle-riding badass he'd been just minutes before.

"Very sweet of you," Sephiroth said neatly. "Come in and see the place." He stepped to the side, giving Cloud a full view. The first thing that struck him was the amount of _space _he had. There was an actual kitchen table! The kitchen was so neat that it almost looked unlived in- clinical in its cleanliness. The only evidence that someone resided in the apartment was a large pot boiling on the stove.

"It looks very nice," Cloud complimented, running a finger over the smooth countertop. He hadn't seen such clean counters in a very, very long time. Not since his old house. "Can I see my bedroom?" Sephiroth gestured at a door in the corner. Cloud peeked inside, and saw a small room with a twin mattress, elevated by bricks. He'd need to bring his sheets, but otherwise, it looked perfectly functional.

"Everything looks good," he said with a thumbs-up. "When can I move in?"

"Anytime. Obviously, no one lives in there now."

"Cool. My lease at the other place'll run out at the end of the month, so then I'll just bring my stuff over?" Sephiroth nodded. "I don't have a lot. I see that your décor is a little, ah, sparse," Cloud said with a smile, trying to joke. Sephiroth smiled faintly back at him. "Well, that all works out, then, I guess," Cloud asked, without actually asking a question.

"Yes, it does. I'll give you my phone number, so you can call when you want to come over."

"Ok, thanks. Thanks!" Cloud shook his hand, and stuffed the paper with the phone number into his pocket. "I'd better get going now, my brother's waiting for me." His mouth spoke the words, but deep down he could tell that he didn't really mean them. He had made the mistake of making eye contact with Sephiroth, and the smoky blue seemed to seep into his knees and affix him to the ground right where he was, like a houseplant. It had been quite some time since anyone had rendered Cloud so helpless.

"If you'd like to stay a little while longer, I'm making chili," Sephiroth offered, indicating the pot on the stove, and the spell was broken. The corners of Cloud's mouth twitched up a little, and he tried not to laugh. His brand-new roommate didn't seem like much of a chili guy.

"That sounds good," he grinned. Sora could wait for another hour, right?

* * *

Xigbar leaned against the wall in his stark, white room. He was drooling, but he didn't notice. He was too confused. He had fallen asleep last night, and now everything was all torn up, like a big monster had been trapped here and wanted to get out. Why hadn't the monster torn him up? He held a ruined pillow in front of his face, staring at it stupidly. Where had he seen one of these before?

"Hi, Mr. Xigbar," a young blonde woman said cheerfully, letting herself in. "It's time for exercise, would you like that? Xigbar?" The man didn't respond. He just stared at the pillow. He was forgetting something, something important. He sniffed at it, searching for a smell that was familiar to him and yet not.

"Oh, you're just upset because your room's all messy," the nurse said with understanding. "When we come back everything will be back to normal. Don't be worried. It's time to do your exercises." She gently took the slashed-up pillow from Xigbar and put it back on the bed. He fumbled for it pathetically.

"Don't worry, Mr. Xigbar. Everything will be ok when you get back."

* * *

Fuckin' rickshaws, honestly. For the uninitiated, in FF12, Kytes and Penelo are friends of the best-of variety, and they work together. HMM. HMM, I say. ;)

Actual conversation I had with my psychiatrist this week:

psych: so, what do you do for fun on the weekends?

me: well, i write fanfiction.

psych: what's it about?

me: it's a sci-fi thriller, obv!

psych: ha that's awesome. are you keeping up with your languages?

me: actually, i incorporated them all into the fanfic.

psych: rofl

me: totally

See? I gave you a cute, personal story, so give me reviews. I feed off of them like Vamp!Leon feeds off of blood. :D (Now that I'm thinking about it, does that mean I eat reviews like a normal goddamn person? Hmm.)


	8. Chapter 8

HEY. After posting, I wasn't that happy with this chapter, so I tweaked it a tiny bit. The content of the chapter hasn't changed at all, but if this gets bumped to the top of the page because I edited, I'm sorry for being an asshole. Truly. Next chapter should be ready to go in a couple of days.

* * *

"Hello, Miss Smith. Please, sit down." Kairi stayed standing. She was exceedingly cautious around Ansem Wise, her boss, the elderly gentleman who was the head of the DIZ Team and the party wholly responsible for her project. The sight of him made her ill. In another reality, it could easily have been Kairi in that computer and not the others. This fact was not lost on her at all.

"Hello, sir," she said warily, and she slowly sat down in the chair, extremely conscious of the door behind her back. Ansem's was a corner office, which had floor-to-ceiling windows in place of two walls, giving Kairi an incredible view of the city. She hadn't been outside in two years, so these meetings were her only glimpse of reality. And right now, reality wasn't looking too hot. The sun was setting over New York City, but combined with the yellow sky the colors gave the city a sickly look, as if it were spewing blood and pus.

"I'm sure you know why you are here," Ansem rumbled smoothly, in an accent that Kairi couldn't quite place. Yes, she did of course know why she was here, but she wasn't going to give this man the satisfaction of a complete answer.

"The system shutdown."

"Precisely. I have looked over the report that your assistant delivered to me-" a quick glance at his bare desk indicated that he had not read the report at all- "but I would like to hear about the situation directly from you." He leaned back in his chair, folding his large hands easily on his lap. "Please. Speak."

"I was awakened by the alarm last night, and I went directly to the lab," Kairi explained tiredly. "Naminé informed me that the combat system glitched. Subject 13 attacked Subject 7's face. Apparently his reprogramming was not finished- the problem has been corrected, and Subject 13 has been completely re-wiped."

"Subject 7. Is that Mr. Adey?" Kairi fought down irritation. He _always _did this- ignore the meat of a paragraph and slow everything down by clinging to specific little questions. And the polite reference to Michael Adey- it morbidly reminded her somewhat of a serial killer who went out of his way to give his victims proper burials.

"Yes. Saïx." They had, after all, initiated the code names to protect themselves from spies or otherwise. But then, Ansem always had considered himself above the rules.

"Didn't he have a scar on his face?" Kairi wanted to scream.

"Yes. This was what led us to believe that Number 13, _Roxas_, had incomplete programming. He's been wiped. Naminé started from scratch." Ansem let out a long, condescending sigh, and shook his head. Condescendingly.

"I'm quite sure you don't need me to tell you how serious this is." Not that she'd ever admit to it, but Kairi really, really hated old people. The condescension especially, but also the smell. Ansem Wise wore terrible cologne. She was sure it cost him thousands.

"I know, sir. The situation has been resolved." _After I almost had a mental breakdown, I might add, if you're trying to imply that I'm not invested in my work._

"Has it really? Naminé has not made a mistake like this before. Are you sure _her _programming doesn't need to be… tweaked?" The long pause, followed by the over-deliberately chosen word. Kairi wasn't going to make it through this. She was already succumbing to her old eyebrow twitch. A few more questions like that, and she'd be leaping out the window to freedom.

"Naminé's programming is fine, sir. She's not the issue." Kairi was as sure of this fact as she was sure that she had two feet, two arms, a torso and a head.

"Are you sure?" See above thought. Ansem's eyes narrowed, barely noticeable, but Kairi was sensitive to these subtleties, and the atmosphere in the room had most definitely changed. From imposing, as it had been before, right up the scale to actively threatening. The hairs on her neck stood up, but she kept her cool. She'd survived in this hellish place on her own for more than a year. One little smackdown of wills with the most amoral person she knew wasn't going to make much difference, one way or the other. Besides, she had the computer on her side.

"Completely sure. All of the conversations she's had with me and the rest of the staff are easily accessible on file- you can look through them yourself if you're concerned with abnormality." Naminé would of course have edited them all already to eliminate any signs of abnormality. Having the computer on your side sure was sweet.

"Oh, no. I trust you." Ha! Leave it to Ansem to shy away at the slightest hint of actual work. "I am concerned, however, that she seems to only speak candidly with _you. _Since you are her programmer, I thought you might be able to shed some light on the situation." He eyed her over the tops of his glasses.

Kairi gaped. Not in the literal sense, of course, but mentally, she was completely blank with rage. Penelo. How _dare _she talk to Ansem about her? That was it. As soon as Kairi was free of this stupid meeting, she was going to find her dainty little assistant and rip her a few new holes to tattle out of. As if Penelo was in any way capable of doing Kairi's job. As if Penelo had any idea what the hell she was talking about. Penelo overwhelmed Kairi's mind.

"Miss Smith?"

"Ah, yes, sir?" Kairi snapped out of her fantasies, and internally throttled herself for allowing Ansem to gain the upper hand.

"I asked if you would like a glass of water. You're very pale."

"Ah, yes please, sir. I think it's the altitude- I've been underground for so long, the elevator might have made me light-headed." A plausible excuse, and not entirely untrue. Ansem's office was on the 104th floor of a 104-story building, and the high speed elevators frequently caused unprepared passengers to pass out. The insides were decorated in expensive tile rather than carpet because of all the nosebleeds.

"I see." Ansem pushed a button on his desk. "A glass of water, please," he ordered. Almost immediately, Kairi was provided with a glass of water, delivered by a rather miserable-looking young woman. How she would hate to be Ansem's assistant. She gratefully drank the liquid, uneasy under her boss's deliberate gaze.

"Now, as regards Naminé," he said, turning slightly to look out his windows. "I would like to have a full diagnostic run on her. She seems to have formed an attachment to you, and she made errors in a Nobody's processing. I'm afraid that you have given her far too much leeway within the system. She needs to be reigned in."

"It's done, sir," Kairi said simply. She new that Naminé would never produce any incriminating data. According to any records outside of her and Naminé's own minds, they never spoke of anything besides business. Nothing to see here, move right along, now. Naminé was better at keeping secrets than anyone Kairi knew, even including herself, she whose entire life had become one elaborate lie after another. Unfortunately, all that lying hadn't prepared Kairi for Ansem's next statement.

"Your assistant will be performing her own analysis as well." _What!? _Inside-Kairi's eyes bugged out, and she yanked violently on her hair, alternating between shrieking her tonsils out and sputtering incoherently. Outside-Kairi was serene.

"Is that really necessary, sir? With all due respect, I have been the head programmer on this team for more than a year now, and as far as I can tell, you have no issue with my job performance." Kairi met Ansem's eyes easily. She was _not _going to back down.

"Your job performance is not the issue, Miss Smith. I just feel that a second opinion would be best." Condescending bastard. He wasn't going to back down, either.

"Very well, _sir._" The animosity she was feeling leaked out into the final word, causing her to flinch internally, but if Ansem had noticed, he didn't react. "Am I excused?"

"Not yet, Miss Smith." Kairi was furious. She kept letting Ansem get to her. Maybe she was just out of practice. "I feel obligated to warn you, the owner of this company has approached me. He is beginning to feel that there is no profit in this venture, and that we already have all of the data we may need." Ansem said this meaningfully, but Kairi didn't immediately take up the significance.

"What does that mean? Sir?"

"It means, the very _second_ the DIZ Project becomes a liability to the Shinra Corporation, it will be shut down." Kairi paled, and her eyes widened. For real, this time. She didn't bother hiding her emotional reaction. This was _serious._

"Tell me _exactly_ what that means," she said, deathly quiet.

"If you don't want to find out, I suggest you improve the quality of your research. This meeting is over. Please go." Kairi left without another word.

* * *

"Welcome Roxas."

Roxas smiled weakly and swayed on his feet. No one said hello. About half of the students didn't even turn around to see him, and the rest were staring a little too intensely, mild confusion on their faces. Roxas couldn't wait to find a seat. He saw an empty spot next to a strange-looking blonde, one of the staring ones, and somewhat quickly moved to claim it. He stumbled a little bit while he was sitting down.

"Hello, Roxas," the weird boy said cheerfully. Roxas ignored him. A book was lying closed in front of him. It looked mildly interesting, but he couldn't bring himself to want to open it.

"Good morning, class," the supposed teacher greeted everyone. "Today we will be discussing 'The Properties of Magic.' Please open your books to page 31." Roxas reached forward and lethargically opened the textbook. His hands were heavy. He kept forgetting to breathe, and his instincts weren't kicking in to take care of it unconsciously, which resulted in an unrhythmic cycle of a couple deep, shaky breaths every twenty seconds or so.

Predictably, the top of the page read _The Properties of Magic. _Roxas was vaguely interested, and he felt like he should be reading ahead, but instead, his eyes glazed over. The professor's voice slid over him, registering in the unconscious part of his brain, but in the conscious part? Not so much.

"You are all here because you are able to sense and manipulate what we call magic. You know this already. I wish I could tell you _what _it is that you are manipulating, but the truth is, I don't know. No one does." She paused for effect. Roxas wiped some drool from his chin. "All we know for sure is that this force affects different people in different ways. A vast majority of humans do not react to the energy at all- this is what separates normal humans from Others. The first mark of an Other is the ability to sense magic. I'm sure all of you can feel your classmates' magical energy right now." Momentarily lucid, Roxas tried it, and sure enough, he could feel eight distinct signatures besides his own. Wait, eight? He focused, and realized that by far the strongest signature was coming from Professor Naminé. He felt suffocated by it. His breathing got shakier, distracted.

"What do _you _do?"

Professor Naminé fell silent. The other students turned to stare at Roxas with wide eyes, this time all seven of them. Something behind Roxas's eyes flashed, and he twitched, almost unnoticeably. He blinked and looked around. Why was everyone looking at him?

"As I was saying, magic affects different people in different ways, and this applies to Others as well." The professor continued as if the interruption had never occurred. "You all belong to the most developed group of Others- Others with the ability to channel magic through their bodies, and control it. Something about your molecular and biological structure allows you to utilize magic for your own ends.

"The second group of Others are those who are affected by magic, but can't use magic on their own. Often, these Others have unusual physical deformities or simple powers over which they have little to no control. They can sense magic, but can't use it. Our textbook refers to these first two types as 'Active' and 'Reactive.'

"The third group of Others is the largest, and contains many part-human mythological creatures, most especially vampires and werewolves. These creatures are normal humans who have been infected by magic from an outside source, usually through a bite. Their magic is an unnatural and invasive presence. This, of course, results in negative symptoms such as the vulnerability to sunlight found in vampires. This group has the greatest potential for study, as it gives us the opportunity to see how large amounts of wild magical energy interact with the normal human body. They are also believed to be the transitional group in Other evolution, as they have been widely reported as breeding with ordinary humans." A few students were taking notes. Roxas couldn't be bothered. He suddenly felt very tired.

Professor Naminé pressed on, discussing molecules and atoms, magic theory and magic application and a lot of other things that fluttered gently into one ear and got ungracefully spat out the other. At this moment, Roxas's mind was the polar opposite of a sponge- it seemed incapable of absorbing anything at all. Possibly a rock. _Rock. _The word sounded pleasant in his mind for some reason. He twitched and blanked.

This happened quite often, he was noticing. Every once in a while, a tiny shudder, almost like a seizure, would pass through Roxas's body and he'd blank out for a long moment. It made thinking extremely difficult. His eyes furtively darted around the room, taking in his new classmates. The boy next to him kept trying to communicate, or something, but Roxas dismissed him easily. His eyes were drawn to a flash of red. Shudder.

Was Professor Naminé still talking? Roxas ignored the blonde boy's sloppy note-taking. His eyes looked around for something to catch his attention. He saw red. The color was enthralling. The source was a student seated on the other side of the room. Shudder.

Red. Roxas wanted to look at the red. Shudder.

Roxas gave up.

Soon, the class was over, and everyone stood up and walked out. Roxas wanted to follow, but his limbs weren't being cooperative. He finally stood up sluggishly, trying to force himself to rush to get out with everyone else. No one but he and Professor Naminé was left in the room.

"Roxas?" She spoke to him directly. He looked at her stupidly.

"Yes, Professor?"

"… I'm sorry." Roxas blinked.

"What for?" She looked almost sad. He shivered.

"It's nothing, Roxas. Go join the others."

* * *

"Roxas isn't sitting with us," Axel complained, his eyes resting on the blonde boy who fascinated him so, sitting directly in the middle of the table by himself, refusing to incorporate into any group. "Doesn't he usually sit with us?"

"He usually sits with us," Demyx confirmed. "He didn't talk to me in class today." The subject of Roxas's re-introduction to everyone didn't even come up. They knew better than to question Professor Naminé.

Zexion did not comment on the situation, poking uncertainly at his beans and rice.

"Why isn't he sitting with us?" Axel felt distressed. Was Roxas upset by what they did in the shower? He thought Roxas had liked it. Why would Roxas be upset with him? Axel remembered when Roxas and Demyx had gone to talk to the other group. Was Roxas switching sides? The thought made his insides feel funny.

"Zexion, why aren't you eating? You should eat," Demyx admonished. Zexion didn't even look up.

"I don't feel well."

"Eating will make you feel better. Rice tastes good." No answer. Axel wasn't particularly interested in the conversation, anyway. He was still preoccupied by Roxas, who was dangling his fork uncertainly in front of his face, like he wasn't quite sure what it was. Like Zexion, Roxas's own meal was completely untouched.

"I'm going to talk to Roxas," Axel declared. Demyx and Zexion blinked at him. Axel's mind was made up. He even lifted his plate, prepared to scoot down to the middle of the table.

"Maybe he just wants to be alone today?" Demyx suggested, but he seemed to quickly realize just how wrong that sounded, and stuffed a forkful of food into his mouth to quell the radical statement. They never spent time alone. Alone was unknown, and that was frightening. Axel thought as much, anyway, and moved to his new seat, directly across from Roxas. The boy didn't even look up.

"Hello, Roxas," Axel said with a happy smile. They were friends, after all.

"Hello. I'm Roxas," Roxas repeated. He went back to playing with his lunch.

"I know you're Roxas," Axel said. He looked down at his own, near-empty plate. Lunch was almost over, and Roxas hadn't eaten anything yet. He was going to get sick, like Zexion.

"You should eat," Axel suggested.

"Ok," said Roxas, and he kept on making shapes with the food. Axel looked over at his friends for help, and Demyx gave him a tiny shrug. Zexion didn't seem to be paying attention, but recently, Axel could never quite tell what Zexion was doing.

"I think we're running later. You like running," Axel said feebly, trying to make conversation with his unusually silent friend. His guts were beginning to feel funny again. Funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.

"I like running," Roxas said with a smile. Axel himself was running out of ideas.

"That was cool, when you asked Professor Naminé what her power was. _Almost _as cool as the time I almost left." Roxas didn't respond at all this time, opting instead to tip his plate over, dumping all of the untouched food onto the table. Axel felt hopeless.

"Is this about what we did in the shower?" Roxas was carefully separating his uneaten beans and rice into two neat piles. At Axel's question, he paused, his brow furrowing into the slightest of frowns.

"I don't know what you're talking about, uh, uh…."

"Axel," Axel supplied nervously.

"Axel? Hello, Axel," Roxas said dully. The bell rang, and Roxas left to go to the common room, without even saying goodbye. Axel hung back, and reunited with Demyx and Zexion.

"Roxas didn't eat anything," Axel observed.

"Neither did Zexion," Demyx added, looking at the boy in question.

"Sorry, Demyx," Zexion said quietly. The three boys sat in their usual spot on the sofa, avoiding the other four. Once again, Roxas ignored them and sat alone. Axel was really becoming concerned, now. Was Roxas pretending not to remember what they did, or had he actually forgotten?

"Roxas, come sit with us!" Demyx might as well have not spoken. Their efforts were proving futile.

"Something's wrong," Axel said lowly. The funny feeling inside him had grown and grown, and now it had flowered and was most definitively telling him that something major was _not right_. "With Zexion, and now with Roxas."

"Yes… something's wrong with me," Zexion agreed reluctantly. Demyx patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"We're friends. We'll help you get better. Friends help each other."

"What about Roxas?" Axel had not taken his eyes off the blonde since they'd entered the room. At least Zexion still knew everyone's names. Roxas was definitely the more pressing concern.

"We'll help him, too," Demyx said confidently. Axel wasn't so sure. He kept looking at Roxas, and Roxas kept choosing not to notice.

"He's ignoring us. It's like he doesn't even know who we are," Axel murmured. "We've all been here together for… for a long time. Why would he ignore us?"

_It's like he doesn't even know who we are._

* * *

The office faded behind Kairi as she walked to the elevator. She floated past Ansem's assistant like a ghost. She rode down to the basement in absolute silence, pulling out her flask and sucking down booze a little too quickly. Ansem's words rolled around inside her head, almost to the point of becoming meaningless. _The project will be shut down. _Did that mean the people inside the computer would be deleted? What about Naminé? And what would happen to the DIZ Team? Fear bubbled inside her, and fueled by alcohol, quickly morphed into absolute fury. She knew _exactly _whose fault this was.

Kairi stepped off the elevator, windblown and nauseous. But no time for that- she was a girl on a mission. She'd just been spurned, thrown for a loop, and she had to take it out on someone. With purpose, she tucked her now-empty flask back in her pocket and expertly navigated the labyrinth that was the Shinra Building's basement. She walked down all of the stairs, turned all of the corners, and finally ended up outside her beloved lab. Penelo was in there. Kairi opened the door.

"Hello, Penelo," she said with a very insincere grin. Unfortunately, Penelo missed it because she was seated at the computer with her back to the entrance.

"Hey, Kairi," she said casually. Kairi briefly mourned the loss of a perfectly good threatening facial expression. But it was ok, she had others. Many others.

"You know why I came down here, Penelo?" she hissed.

"You're having a bad day, and decided you should ruin mine as well?"

"Pretty close, actually," Kairi chuckled. Not a genuine chuckle, of course, but the vaguely crazed chuckle of someone backed into a corner. Kairi was running out of options, and beating up Penelo seemed about as rational as anything else she might do. "I just got back from my meeting with Ansem. You know what he asked me?" Penelo chose this moment to turn around to face Kairi, just in time to widen her eyes in surprise as Kairi covered the ground of the lab in a few easy steps and grabbed her by the shirt collar, whirling her around and pinning her to the printer. Kairi was stronger than she looked, especially when drunk.

"What the hell, boss!" Penelo yelped, struggling to no avail.

"What did you tell Ansem?" Kairi asked coolly.

"_What_!? I didn't tell him anything!"

"You're lying." Kairi's eyes narrowed.

"Of course I'm not lying! _You're _insane!" Penelo swung a foot and kneed her in the gut, sending Kairi sprawling. Kairi got back to her feet just in time to be slugged in the face, and then shoved into a nearby piece of machinery. Oh, it was _on._

"_I'm _insane?" She threw herself at Penelo, taking advantage of the taller girl's dodge to grab her hair. Penelo cried out in pain and annoyance. "_I'm _not the one who ran off to Ansem to talk about every single problem the team has!" Kairi dropped her assistant to the ground and planted a boot firmly on her back to keep her down. She didn't release her hold on Penelo's hair, either. "_I'm _not the one drawing attention to Naminé! And _I'm _most definitely not the one who wants us all _killed_!"

"I DIDN'T TELL ANSEM ANYTHING," Penelo bellowed, tears threatening to pour out due to the pain of having her long hair pulled. Sometimes the old tricks were the best. "You haveto believe me- what would I gain from that!?"

"I don't fucking know- _I've _never sold anyone out before," Kairi growled. But she released her grip ever so slightly. Penelo was telling the truth. The girl still didn't get a chance to get up, however.

"If you're oh-so-innocent, then how did Ansem know that Naminé only talks to me?" Kairi demanded.

"Oh, please! _Everyone _knows that! I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what the fuck your deal is. But what I _do _know is that it's _completely_ obvious that you're on your own agenda! Ansem has been keeping an eye on you for _months. _What are you, stupid!?" Penelo shrieked, voice muffled by the floor. "You don't need anyone to sell you out- you're doing that perfectly well _all by your goddamn self._"

Kairi dropped Penelo with a soft thud. _Oh my God. _Penelo was right. _I'm in danger. We're in danger. _She stepped off her assistant and backed into the wall, frozen in shock. _Fuck, what do I do?_

Naminé appeared on the main monitor, looking out at them with concern. As much concern as her typically emotionless face could show, in any case.

"Kairi? Is that you? Did I hear a fight?"

"Yes, Naminé, you did. Brilliant Kairi attacked me, but now she's fine," Penelo answered irritably, dusting herself off. Kairi didn't react at all. She slid down the wall, finally ending with her arms around her knees, hugging herself desperately, like if she weren't careful she'd disappear at any moment. She was going to die. She was going to die here, like this, underground. Trapped like a rat. Just like the people in the computer. If Ansem knew everything, he had to have figured out somehow that Kairi was an Other. _I'm going to get trapped in the system I helped program!_

"Uh, boss? You ok?" Penelo asked uncertainly. Kairi didn't answer, her eyes glazing over.

Two years. Two long years ago, Kairi had lost someone dear to her. She set out to find him, and ended up at Shinra. One life ended, another began. And now, she was going to be put down like a dog. Because of her own stupidity, her own arrogance that no one could possibly figure out what she was. According to Penelo, at least, now everyone had. She had failed, completely and unequivocally. The only uncertainty was how long she had left. Was she still useful to Ansem? She supposed she was, as long as Naminé was in play. As soon as anyone figured out how Naminé worked, Kairi was toast. Well, she'd just have to make sure that never happened.

"Boss? Earth to boss?" Penelo snapped her fingers in Kairi's face.

"Please, Kairi. There is no possible way that you could get uploaded into Twilight Town Academy. I would not allow it. Stop being so melodramatic," Naminé said, mildly exasperated. The words were just so… unlike Naminé that they punched through the haze and broke Kairi out of her trance. She blinked at the position she was in. Then she cracked a smile. The smile progressed into giggling, which quickly developed into outright hysterical laughter. She collapsed all the way onto the floor, clutching her stomach. Penelo startled at the sudden movement.

"Oh, you're right, Nam. You always are," Kairi grinned, rubbing her now-sore belly. Leave it to Naminé to say something stupid and end up accidentally reinstilling her fightin' spirit. She knew there was a reason she programmed that girl. "All right then, ladies, let's come up with a plan."

"Uh, what? Are you talking to _me_?" Penelo pointed to herself, not removing her eyes from Kairi, who she was looking at with a mixed expression, as if she were some kind of disgusting yet especially cool-looking bug.

"Of course. I'm not picky. You didn't rat me out to Ansem and you easily could have, so I guess that makes you reasonably trustworthy. You with me or against me?" If Kairi was going to make it out of this, she could use an ally, and she couldn't afford to be choosy. She was sick of only talking to a computer. _No offense, Nam._

"I will help you to the best of my ability," Naminé said blandly.

"I didn't rat you out to Ansem because I don't know what you _are_. What exactly are you going to do?" Penelo asked suspiciously.

"Easy. I'm going to _live_."

* * *

And so, the Kairi and Nobody plots lurch into action like a slow-moving yet carnivorous dinosaur. But look at me, updating all fast! Go me!

Self-Indulgent Story Trivia: Leon is a vampire because in the first game he's voiced by David Boreanaz, who played Buffy the Vampire Slayer's vamp dreamboat boyfriend, Angel. I always kind of expect him to vamp out and try to bite Yuffie. She'd kick his ass, of course.

I did a ton of planning before I actually worked up the balls to write a story this complicated, so there's pretty much a reason for almost everything. If you would like more self-indulgent story trivia, let me know in reviews. ;)


	9. Chapter 9

Remember at the very beginning when I said there was going to be Zemyx in this story? And now, hey look! Some Zemyx, finally! :) I just haven't read enough crappy Zemyx school!fics to be able to spoof them properly, lol. (SELF-INDULGENT STORY TRIVIA: Yes, all the Axel/Roxas in the beginning is supposed to be a spoof- Roxas talks to other boy, Axel flies into jealous rage, Roxas thinks that's so totally hot, Axel and Roxas make out in a shower. That's like, every fanfic ever, LOL) But now, this chapter is all Zemyx and Cleon, so, hooray! Watch out for lemons...

* * *

Zexion stood in the shower longer than usual, allowing the steam to relax him. He couldn't stay too long, though, since he got uncomfortable when he was alone, and most of the other students were gone. Was he really sick? Demyx had said he thought he was sick. No one at Twilight Town Academy ever got sick. But then, no one here ever had dreams, either, as far as he knew. Yes, Zexion was different from everyone else. He just had to figure out how, and why.

Leaving the showers, he stepped easily into his sleep clothes. He used to be afraid of going to sleep, but he wasn't anymore. Afraid was too strong a word. Now he was more… apprehensive. He wanted to know more about what he saw, but every morning, as soon as he woke up, she was gone. _She. Who is she?_

"Hello, Zexion." Zexion was startled out of his thoughts by his bunkmate. Demyx was already dressed, and sitting cross-legged on his bed. He had the top bunk, and Zexion had the bottom, which Zexion supposed made sense because he was short.

"Hello, Demyx," he responded politely.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, thank you." Zexion really was feeling ok, after the shower. He didn't even notice that he hadn't eaten lunch or dinner. Lunch felt like forever ago. Demyx stared at his feet, swaying back and forth with his face scrunched up as if he were considering something very important. Zexion peeled back his comforter and climbed into his bed, grateful for the warmth and the softness. His bed reminded him of a tight embrace, tiny arms wrapped around his middle- wait, why was he thinking about hugs?

"I don't agree with what you said before," Demyx blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Zexion was startled, and honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"I don't think there's something wrong with you." Oh. "You're just a little bit sick." But that couldn't be right, because no one else had ever gotten sick at Twilight Town Academy. Which still pointed to something being wrong with Zexion specifically. Now that he'd been thinking about it, he desperately wanted a hug.

"I think there's something wrong with me."

"You don't talk anymore. Maybe you think too much," Demyx suggested.

"Maybe I do." Zexion pulled his covers up to his chin, listening to his bunkmate stretching out directly above him. He was prepared to just go to sleep, when something occurred to him. "Demyx, do you ever have dreams?"

"What do you mean?" Demyx's voice was muffled slightly by the mattress and the height difference.

"Do you see things while you're sleeping." Zexion felt dumb, but he knew Demyx would take him seriously.

"No… Do you?" Demyx's eyes were wide. Zexion knew this because the blonde boy had leaned over the side of the bunk to stare at him, his normally perfectly groomed hair swinging wildly in protest at being put upside-down. The sight was funny enough that Zexion almost wanted to laugh. Demyx's concerned facial expression sobered him up.

"Yes. I don't think anyone else has dreams but me. It's a problem." Zexion became more and more sure of himself the more he restated it. Something was wrong with him, and it was a problem.

"Is that what you think about?" Demyx asked softly. He was swaying again, creating a gentle arc with his hair. The motion fascinated Zexion, and he found his eyes trailing the dirty-blonde tips back and forth.

"Sometimes," Zexion admitted. He thought about other things too, like what he was eating for lunch, or how far he was running. And right now, he was thinking about things that he thought about, and was coming up surprisingly blank. Zexion thought that he thought all the time- why couldn't he remember?

"What do you see?" He was once again startled out of his thoughts by an abrupt question. Demyx had stopped swaying, and was staring at him with large eyes. Why had he never noticed how big and round Demyx's eyes were?

"What do you mean?" he asked stupidly.

"While you're asleep. Your dreams. What do you see?" Demyx began to sway again, and Zexion's eyes obediently leaped into motion, this time trailing the blonde's eyes instead of his hair.

"I don't remember," he answered semi-truthfully. He did remember some things, but he couldn't put them into words. Like when you've forgotten a name or a place, and you know you would remember it immediately if you saw it, but it's lost inside your head.

"Then how do you know that you see things?" Demyx blinked deliberately. Was he actually confused, or was he probing to get an answer out of Zexion? It was impossible to tell.

"I remember sometimes. It all goes away really quickly," Zexion said quietly, feeling himself becoming irritable. He hated questions.

"Do you think you'll see something tonight?"

"You ask too many questions." Demyx blushed a little, embarrassed, and disappeared onto the top bunk. Zexion rolled over onto his other side. He wanted to go to sleep now. He wanted to see _her_, and maybe then he would remember. Eyes closed, he was about to fall asleep, when Demyx's voice drifted quietly down to him.

"Tomorrow morning, right when you wake up, wake me up and tell me what you saw!" The enthusiasm was not infectious.

"I don't know." Zexion wasn't eager to share his deepest secrets with his blonde friend, but that was because he wasn't eager to share his deepest secrets with anyone. He was abnormal. Everyone should just keep thinking he was normal.

"Please, Zexion?" Maybe it was the tinge of pleading in Demyx's voice, maybe it was the memory of the rhythm of the boy's big blue eyes. Whatever it was, he gave in.

"Ok."

* * *

Demyx smiled to himself, pleased that he had won over Zexion. He was very curious about this 'dream' thing that his friend had described. Zexion was acting funny. Demyx was sure if he just didn't think so much about things, he would be a lot less sick. Yes, Demyx had solved that problem completely. He rolled over onto his side, and fell into a deep sleep.

_A small boy sat quietly on a toilet, his head leaning against a urinal. He wasn't, you know, __**doing**__ anything, besides hiding. He crossed his ankles and fussed with his uncomfortable bowtie. On the other side of the door, his parents were shouting in angry French._

"_Why did you bring __**him**__ along? He completely ruined that dinner!"_

"_What are you talking about? He didn't do anything-"_

"_Exactly! He sat there like some kind of goddamn robot. Last thing I need is everyone at the office asking why my kid is broken!"_

"_He's your __**son**__. He __**tried**__."_

_Why did they always talk about him like this, as if he weren't listening? Démé sighed and sat up straight- the porcelain urinal was making the side of his face cold. Leave it to his father, Mr. Big Important Businessman, to install a urinal in a home bathroom. Heaven forbid he pee in a toilet like a lowly commoner. _

"_You were the one who wanted to have a baby to help your precious __**career**__."_

"_Don't pin this on me!"_

_A familiar knot was forming in the pit of Démé's stomach. He wouldn't cry, though. He hadn't cried in years._

"_I never even __**wanted**__ to have kids!" _

_Suddenly, the faucet started running. Démé blinked, stood, and put his hand on the tap to turn if off. Apparently, it was already off- it wouldn't turn anymore. His eyes and ears were telling him otherwise. The sink was slowly filling up, and soon it would overflow. He looked around for something to clean up the extra water, and his eyes fell upon a set of especially plush towels. Granted, those were his mothers', and she would be furious with him if he used them to clean the sink. At the thought, the shower turned on full force, spraying hard water all over the walls. His parents heard it this time._

"_Oh- Démé-" _

"_What is he doing now? Never mind. You deal with it." Démé heard his father's heavy feet trail off towards the kitchen, where they suddenly stopped, accompanied by a shout. "Hey! Did you leave the sink running?"_

"_What? What are you talking about? Démé, sweetie, please come out of there!" The shower and sink were still out of control, and the towels weren't helping. He pushed them out of the way, and looked for something new. His head ached. The shower curtain would probably work, but he needed it to keep the water inside the shower, so that was a no-go. As he pulled open a drawer to grab some washcloths, he noticed that his hands were shaking. The mirror was completely fogged over. _

_Démé turned around with his washcloths, and saw something that probably should have surprised him, but didn't. Another him was staring back at him; put more precisely, the water in the bathtub had risen up into an exact replica of Démé himself, swirling inside itself in soft, translucent blue. Its head was cocked, as if it were considering him, evaluating him in some way. Finally, it came to a decision, and it smiled, offering Démé a small wave. Démé waved back, mesmerized by the water clone's see-through, lifeless eyes._

"_Hello," he said breathlessly. "Do you talk?"_

"_Démé? Is that you? Who are you talking to!" He ignored his mother, who he could tell was almost finished unlocking the bathroom door from the outside. In the distance, his father was on the phone with a plumber, swearing up a storm over faulty pipe work. All of that faded away. The water shook its head, almost sadly, and extended its hand, as if it were asking for a high five. Démé lifted his own hand, no longer trembling, and gently matched it up to its shimmering mirror image. At the contact, the moment was broken. The clone dissolved, splashing forward in a tidal wave, flooding the expensive bathroom magnificently. Démé's mother rushed through the door._

"_Oh, Démé… your shoes are ruined." The sprinkler system turned on, bathing Démé's face in droplets of cool, streaming water. _

* * *

Leon lay sprawled on his bed, sheets tangled up in his fingers, face buried in his dirty pillow. He was snoring softly, completely wiped out from the night before. Unfortunately, his peaceful rest was cut short by a very disgruntled teenage boy.

"Leon! LEON!" Leon mumbled something about how you're supposed to _eat _the pancakes, and rolled over, away from the source of the disturbance. In the process, he ended up even more tangled in the sheets than he was before. The boy trying to wake him up took good advantage of that. He grabbed the tip of the sheet and gave it a hard flick. The sheet unfurled with a mighty slap, sending Leon tumbly turvy until he was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. The impact awoke him with a yelp, followed by an explosion of anger.

"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS GOING ON," Leon screeched. His bleary red eyes opened, and he saw the flying fuck himself standing at the foot of his bed, sheets bunched in hand. Leon snarled and struggled to his feet, clinging to the mattress and falling down the first time. His claws left a sharp streak in the cheap mattress, exposing some springs. He hissed in anger and climbed upright, finally, glaring at Sora with everything he had.

Leon was a vision of a demon from some circle of hell. His hair was wild, sticking up every which way, his claws and fangs were bared, his eyes gleamed. A low growl burned in the back of his throat. Sora's eyes were wide, and he'd pinned his wings down as far as they would go, keeping every quill and downy tuft as still as he possibly could. Leon could practically see his thoughts running by on his face- _Maybe his vision is attracted to movement. Maybe if I stay really, really still, he can't see me. _Sora risked a glance at the door. Leon suddenly realized what he was doing. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ He shook his head, closed his mouth, and stood up straight.

"Sora-" The boy squeaked and fled the room. _God dammit! _Leon set out after him, catching a glimpse of a bright white wing as it disappeared around the corner. "Sora, come back! You surprised me! SORA!"

Leon rushed out into the body of the church, looking frantically around what was left of the pews. Sora was nowhere to be seen- that meant he must have gone up. Leon looked up. No light was coming through the ceiling- that meant it was nighttime. Sora was hiding.

"SORA! It was an accident! I didn't mean it! Why did you wake me up?" Silence. Leon strained his ears- he heard sniffling. Sora was _crying_? This was really not one of Leon's stronger points. He sighed. "Sora, I'm sorry. Please. Talk to me." Leon waited patiently for a response, much longer than he felt he should have to. But he couldn't leave Sora like this. He sat down on the back of a pew, and waited. Irritation was still brewing in his belly from being awakened prematurely, but he kept a lid on it. Finally, he heard a faint, mumbly sound.

"Sora?"

"CLOUD'S NOT HERE," the winged boy shouted, and Leon winced at the sudden noise echoing around the inside of the large space. His head still ached from being awakened early, and possibly from all the alcohol he drank last night. Wait, why would Sora be upset that Cloud wasn't here, today of all days? Cloud was never here.

"Sora, what do you mean? What day is it?" Leon realized that he had quite lost his sense of time.

"He promised… he promised to come see me this weekend. It's Sunday night and he's _not here_," Sora wailed, his words broken up by a series of powerful sobs. Leon swore quietly. Of course. Cloud's promise. How could he have forgotten? He was going to _kill _Cloud as soon as the asshole deigned to show up. Leon was not a babysitter, and Sora deserved better than this.

"I'm sure he'll be here," he began, but he could tell that he didn't really believe the words himself. Sora would definitely be able to tell, as well- Leon was quickly learning that the boy was very sensitive to dishonesty. Maybe Riku _was _that werewolf kid's real name, after all. But Leon didn't have time to think about that right now.

"I don't want to talk to you," Sora's voice boomed, ricocheting around the church and bouncing off the pews. If Leon didn't know any better, and if he were so inclined, he might believe he were having a religious experience. But no, it was just a scared teenage boy, hiding in the rafters of a broken-down old building. _Was I ever like this?_

"Sora-"

"Go away. GO AWAY!" Sora screamed, and Leon heard a rustle that indicated that the boy had curled up into a ball, and wouldn't talk to him anymore. He sighed. That was that, then. He would deal with Cloud himself, later.

"Ok, Sora. But I'm going back to bed." Leon took a deep breath and steeled himself for the next sentence. "Wake me up if you need anything, ok?" Sora didn't answer. He could still hear the sobs. Cloud was going to get it for this one, that was damn sure. With a sigh, Leon turned and walked back up the stairs, headed back to his room. His bed was a disaster from what had happened before, but he managed to salvage it somewhat, and wrapped himself back up in his blankets. He closed his eyes, and quickly drifted off.

Soon, Leon was tossing fitfully in his bed. He was having another dream. Vivid, this time. Painfully vivid. His groans deepened, as the ache in his boxers got stronger and stronger. He was dreaming of Cloud.

_Leon was kissing Cloud. His dreams could have stopped there, and he would be ecstatic. The taste, the smell… Cloud was ethereal. _

A world away, Cloud was kissing someone else. How long had it been since he'd actually made out with someone taller than him? Older than him? Sephiroth's hands caressed Cloud's narrow hips, and the blonde impatiently guided them up under his shirt. _Too long_. His new roommate's silky hands glided over his slender midsection. The kiss deepened, Cloud very much enjoying the tastes and textures of this strange Other's mouth. He bit Sephiroth's lip sharply, and the older man pulled back, surprised. With a sexy grin, Cloud dragged him down towards the bed.

_Cloud broke the kiss and gently entwined his fingers with Leon's._ "_You want to take this further?_"

Sephiroth gasped as Cloud pulled him on top of him, bringing their sensitive spots into very rough contact. Who ever said that bottoms couldn't be aggressive, too? Cloud wrapped his legs around his new sex partner's middle, pushing their groins together. At the slightest movement, both of them moaned. Sephiroth pulled his shirt off and started on Cloud's.

_Leon slid his fingers underneath Cloud's shirt, feeling the slender boy's taught muscles. Cloud laughed at him, that sweet, lilting laugh, and pulled off his shirt himself. He slid his hands seductively down Leon's torso and began playing with the very first belt._

Fully disrobed, suddenly too-tight pants removed and the pressure on his nether regions temporarily relieved, Cloud was able to fully take in Sephiroth's body. It was good. That's all that needs to be said. His own body, which seemed kind of scrawny by comparison, was beginning to quiver with anticipation. Sephiroth noticed, and smiled haughtily, lowering himself on top of Cloud agonizingly slowly. Cloud bucked and grabbed at Sephiroth, hurry it up already, but Sephiroth ignored him. The pressure in his nether regions was coming back with a vengeance.

"_Why the hell do you always wear so many belts?_"_ Leon flushed, embarrassed._

Cloud cried out as Sephiroth pushed two fingers inside him, finally. He arched his back for deeper access. Sephiroth gently wrapped the fingers of his other hand around Cloud's very eager member, and began to pump in rhythm as he caressed Cloud's prostate with his fingers. Cloud groaned, his eyes rolling back into his head.

_Finally undressed, Leon took in Cloud's body. He was beautiful. Cloud extended a pale hand and led Leon over to his bed._

"That feels really good," Cloud whispered, speaking for the first time since they'd started. Sephiroth responded by speeding up his ministrations. Cloud writhed, twisting the sheets in his fingers. He wasn't going to last much longer like this. His breath came lighter and harsher, his muscles began to tighten, he could feel himself approaching the finish line.

_Leon lowered Cloud onto his filthy church bed, uncaring of his less-than-ideal living conditions. Cloud didn't care, either. His bright blue eyes never left Leon._

Cloud lay splayed on the bed, panting like a dog. Hot, sticky liquid covered his stomach and thighs. He was too dazed to move. Sephiroth was lubing himself up, preparing for the main event.

"Are you ready?"

"…Yeah."

_Leon gently guided himself into Cloud's entrance, pushing slowly to give his lover time to adjust. Cloud rolled his eyes, leaned forward, grabbed Leon's hips, and yanked him inside. Both men cried out at the sudden sensation._

The first thrust left Cloud seeing stars. He cried out, clutching the sides of the mattress. Sephiroth slid out, paused, then pushed himself in again. This time Cloud groaned deeply, closing his eyes. Were it possible, his body would be going into feel-good overload. Sephiroth settled into a comfortable rhythm. Each thrust provoked a torrent of pleasurable muscle spasms, causing tiny gasps to escape Cloud's mouth.

_Cloud squirmed underneath him, causing Leon to grunt with pleasure. He leaned forward, enjoying the noises coming out of Cloud's mouth, breathing in the thick blood smell radiating off of Cloud's neck. Damn, did Cloud smell good._

Sephiroth moved faster, sensing his partner's enjoyment. Cloud's eyes were closed, and he lay limply across the bed, absorbing the sensations, letting out occasional squeaks of happiness. Sephiroth leaned forward and licked his neck. A little weird, but it still got Cloud hot. He nibbled Sephiroth's neck a bit in return, but weakly, since his entire body was gearing up for a mind-blowing orgasm.

_Cloud groaned, arching his back, digging his fingers into Leon's hair. Leon buried his face further into Cloud's soft neck, breathing in the blood as his heart rate rose. He grazed his lover's jugular with his fangs._

"Ugh- Seph-!" Cloud groaned as he came again, white-hot lightning shooting through his body, spilling come all over both himself and Sephiroth's sheets. His head lolled back and he waited for Sephiroth to finish. He didn't seem to be close at all, and Cloud's ass was getting a little sore. Cloud was in the process of opening his mouth to complain when he felt his partner orgasm, filling him with warm, sticky liquid. He sighed with relief, his rump eternally grateful. But then, just as he was about to relax, Sephiroth bit him on the neck. Hard.

_Leon bit down._

"Ow! What the fuck, man?" Cloud loved kinky bite sex, but not the kind that drew blood, and definitely not any kind that started after the sex was over. He tried to jerk his head away, and realized that he was stuck. And that when he struggled, Sephiroth bit down harder.

"Dude. Are you trying to eat me or something?" Cloud laughed nervously. "Get _off._" He tried to move his arms, only to discover that Sephiroth had him pinned to the bed. "Hey. Get off!" He tried to kick, and Sephiroth dug his knees into his thighs. "What the hell is this?" The pain was spreading from the bite down to hit chest and up to his head. He kept trying to jerk his head away, the only limb left to him, and was surprised and relieved when Sephiroth finally let go and sat up. Relieved until he saw that Sephiroth's face was covered in blood. _His _blood.

Cloud screamed.

"Now, now," Sephiroth said coolly, shutting him up by placing a hand over his mouth. Cloud bit him and swung a feeble blow at his head with his now-free hand, but neither attack seemed to affect Sephiroth at all. "Usually they don't fight back so hard," he mused thoughtfully. Cloud's eyes narrowed angrily. He thrashed again, and Sephiroth easily held him down. "You must really want to live? Ok, then. You're much too pretty to die, anyway." Cloud's cry of indignation was muffled by Sephiroth's hand. He was beginning to feel very, very light-headed, presumably from blood loss. He needed to get to a hospital! He explained as much to Sephiroth, muffled through the hand.

"Oh, you won't be needing a hospital," he said darkly. He released Cloud's mouth, and Cloud tried to scream again, but discovered that the sound died in his throat. Sephiroth bit down on his neck again. Cloud struggled as much as he could, but he realized with horror that his movements were getting weaker. His body felt light, too light, and empty. He was being suffocated, choked to death on a molecular level. Every cell in his body cried out for oxygen, despite his desperate gulps for air. His fingers twitched pathetically. This was it. He was going to die. His entire being was consumed by one thought:

_Sorry, Sora._

"Relax. You're not going to die." Cloud was dimly aware of Sephiroth slicing open a vein in his own forearm, and placing it in front of his face. Blood! Cloud needed blood! "Drink up, pretty boy."

Cloud sucked greedily on the cool juice, not caring that it dripped down his chin and cheeks. After a few moments, Sephiroth removed his arm, ignoring Cloud's soft whimpers of protest. Cloud dimly watched Sephiroth stand up and leave the room, as the room temperature dropped sharply. His body shuddered violently, and his vision faded to gray, then black.

* * *

Eep. A cookie for your thoughts?


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

Sora sniffled sadly, poking through his laptop for something to distract him. Cloud didn't have a cell phone, so it's not like he could call- all there was to do was wait, and as the hours dragged by, Cloud's appearance was seeming less and less likely, and Sora's mood was getting more and more dismal. On top of that, Leon had snapped at him, and then stormed off to go back to bed. Sora hadn't felt this alone in quite a long time.

The World News wasn't doing much to cheer him up. According to them, some Others around the city had started attacking garbage trucks. Like that was anything new. Really, there was nothing more interesting going on than poverty-stricken Others eating garbage? Sora was about to shut everything down and settle for sniffling himself to sleep, when something occurred to him. He remembered his conversation with Riku, and he scrolled up to the search bar and punched in _Démé Desmarais_, sorted by date.

In an instant, results popped up. He'd read every article a hundred times. The first few were general stories about the Other menace and whatever, but eventually he got a sighting. In Belarus, more than seven months ago. The sighting before that was in New York City less than a week before. Sora remembered that perfectly well- that was when Démé had shut down all the sewers. And then before that date, there was a sighting at least once a week for a year prior. Démé Desmarais wasn't one for hiding. He was much too well known for that now- besides his own infamy, his father was one of the most powerful men in former France. The elder Desmarais had released a statement legally disowning his son shortly after the first attack, and he had since been very public about putting all of his resources and influence on the line in order to bring him in. Sora opened a new window and pulled up the Desmarais Corporation's website, selecting the English language option. A bit of prodding led him to what he was looking for.

_The Desmarais Corporation would like to assure the citizens of the World Nation that we fully condemn the actions of former Vice President Démé Desmarais, and that we are cooperating fully with law enforcement to bring him to justice. If you have any information as to his whereabouts- _Sora stopped reading there. If he'd been caught, his father would most definitely have known about it, and plastered the news all over the corporate webpage. He flipped back over to the most recent sighting, in Belarus. Evidently, Démé had stopped to eat in a town near the capitol (which was apparently called 'Minsk'- Sora wasn't so good at geography), and chatted up a local reporter. Why would he be having casual conversations with the press one day, and then disappear immediately after? It didn't make _sense._

Sora looked at the picture accompanying the article. Démé smiled back at him, all cheekbones, dimples, and even white teeth, a little flustered, as if he weren't expecting to have his picture taken. His expensive-looking sunglasses were askew. The caption read simply: _"No worries, I'm here on business," says Démé Desmarais._ Sora sighed. The world was just too weird for him to deal with. But something at the bottom of the page, in the 'related articles' section, caught his eye.

_Russian Terrorist Attacks Belarus Capitol. _Well, apparently the American news localization team didn't know the capitol of Belarus either, which made Sora feel slightly better about not finishing high school. But what really interested him was the date- one day earlier than the article about Démé. He clicked on the link, and was greeted rather abruptly by a surly mug shot of Alexei Gorodetsky, a terrorist with whom Sora was very familiar, sporting an impressive black eye. After the shining candid shot attached to the last article, the grubby stock photo was quite abrasive. Added to Alexei's unnaturally bright hair and eyes, and his distinctive facial tattoos, the image of the Russian teenager as a dangerous criminal was effectively complete. Sora typed _Alexei Gorodetsky _into the search bar. He collected almost as many hits as Démé had, and Sora narrowed the search to sightings. His eyes widened.

No hits came up more recent than the attack on Minsk. The same time that Démé disappeared. _Disappeared is a strong word, _Sora reminded himself. _He's probably just in a cabin in some woods or something. You'd want a break too if you were an internationally renowned criminal. Right?_ Sora's eyes didn't leave the date on the article. It had to be coincidence. Alexei Gorodetsky was much lower key than Démé Desmarais, anyway, and his sightings were much less frequent, so it was all but impossible to find a pattern. Sora shook his head and shut his laptop. Riku and the Botan Shimizu stuff was just making him crazy.

Riku, if that was even his real name. Doubts were festering in Sora's mind, ever since what Leon had said that morning. Figures that the one time he got to talk to someone his own age it would all be lies. And a _werewolf_? Being around a vampire all the time was bad enough. Cloud never had any problems like this- he always had plenty of nice, normal friends. His new roommate was probably cool, just like everyone else Cloud knew. Wherever Cloud was now, it was probably a gajillion times more awesome than a mattress in the rafters of an abandoned, run-down church. _Why can't my life be like that?_

Sora blinked. Why _couldn't _his life be like that? He was a legal adult- it wasn't like anyone could stop him from doing what he wanted. And right now, he wanted to go out and find Cloud. Give his dumb brother a piece of his mind for leaving him here. Decided, Sora leaped to his feet, and immediately bumped his head on a rafter, yelping in pain. He crouched back down, temporarily set back, but his resolve hadn't lessened. With a stretch, he fluttered out to the middle of the church where the ceiling was higher, listening carefully to make sure he hadn't woken up his church-mate. He could hear snores from the back- good. By the time Leon woke up, he'd be long gone.

Sora hopped up through the hole in the ceiling, which really was his own personal exit, and allowed his body to adjust to the relatively open space. He'd never snuck out of anything before- the thrill was threatening to make him crazy. His heart was pounding in his ankles and his fingertips. He crawled over to the side of the roof and jumped to the next building, spreading his wings and allowing himself to glide lazily. Scanning the ground while he jumped, he assured himself that no one was watching him. More confident, now, he flew over to a fire escape and climb-jumped, a weird combination of flapping and grabbing, up a few more stories to where he would have a better view of the streets.

Cloud's shock of blonde hair would be very easy to spot, even from up high. Sora leaned over the edge of the roof and watched the crowds drifting by, still a good amount of people, despite its being so late, and a Sunday. No spiky blonde hair, however. Well, he hadn't expected it to be that easy. He floated over to another building, and picked through another crowd. Then another, and another. After a dozen or so buildings, the work was getting tiring.

Sora hunched down, taking a break and opening his wings up to let the wind sift through his feathers. He wished Cloud was an Other so that he could sense him- it would make things so much less complicated. As it was, he'd have to think things through. Where had Cloud said his apartment was? _Alphabet City_, he answered himself. At least that was nearby. Or, he was pretty sure it was, in any case. It was definitely in the lower east side, and that was where he was, so there was a good chance he would get there if he started moving. Sora chose what he thought was the right direction, and set off into the night, hopping from building to building with his wings backing him up.

* * *

Riku gingerly tried to open the door, and then jumped back as it fell clean off its hinges. If the outside was any indication, he'd really done a number on his would-be warehouse hideaway. Broken wood and other debris were scattered around the streets and alleyways, evidence of a massive beast snuffling through on the hunt. Luckily there were no people in this area- that must be why he had traveled so far.

Inside, the warehouse was even worse. Claw marks covered the walls and the floor was carpeted in an ankle-deep mishmash of dirt and chunks of brick. Riku could smell blood, as well- his own blood- he must have hurt himself trying to escape. Imagining the wolf frantically pounding on the walls, searching for a weak spot, was easy, but when he tried to remember specifics, nothing came to mind. The wolf was a part of him, and guessing what it would do was easy. But he didn't have control, and never would. The thought at once fascinated and terrified him.

Moving past the thoroughly destroyed basement door and the mountain of mangled furniture, Riku looked for his belongings. Luckily they were still safe, tucked up in a corner out of reach. He supposed that wolf-Riku wouldn't be that interested in human-Riku's stuff, anyway, but it obviously didn't hurt to be cautious. His clothes were there, along with a half-empty pack of razors, his eyebrow pencil, and a well-loved map of New York. He'd stolen the map from his mother before he left, and he was quickly learning that it was a bit out-of-date. For one, the bus and subway lines didn't run anymore, so most of the information on the map was useless. He thumbed the upper west side, looking for Amsterdam Avenue. He found it, and 104th street, sure enough just west of the upper left corner of the large green rectangle that marked Central Park. Kytes' words echoed in his mind.

_You're closer to what you're looking for than you think. _

How much had he heard? Even if he'd heard barely anything at all, Kytes was still a threat. Life in the big city was getting a lot more complicated a lot faster than Riku expected. But he could worry about that later. Right now, he was absolutely starving, and even if everything else was going to shit, at least New York had plenty of really good food. Changing into his own more comfortable clothes and jacket, Riku slipped back out of the warehouse the same way he'd come in. Through the gaping hole where the door was supposed to be.

Riku moved away from the toxic East River, back towards the inland part of the island, where his nose reminded him restaurants would be. He would figure out something for food once he got there. Maybe he could trade the clothes Kytes had given him or something. Unfortunately, fate was not on Riku's side this day, and he was not destined to make it anywhere near people or restaurants.

"Hey Riku!" Riku smelled him before he heard him, but it didn't mute his surprise any.

"Sora?" The wings fluttered noisily into place behind him, and Riku finally turned around. Sora looked much more disgruntled than he was used to. Apparently you could still have problems even if you were completely isolated from the outside world. So that hermit thing Riku was planning once this was all over wasn't going to work out, then. Crap.

"Yeah. Listen, have you seen my brother? You know, Cloud Strife?"

"No." Riku hadn't seen or heard of him since their brief conversation in the coffee shop a week prior. He didn't really know why Sora would ask him, except that he supposed Sora couldn't ask anyone else on the street. He looked disappointed, and Riku almost felt guilty for disappointing him. "Sorry." Well, almost.

"That's ok." Sora's wings drooped sadly. The way he gestured with his wings was kind of cute, Riku thought before he could stop himself. "I was looking for his apartment, but I think I missed it."

"Well, where's his apartment?" Riku casually looked around at the uninhabited shithole where they now stood. Hopefully not here.

"Uh, well, I think it's around here, but actually, I'm not totally sure…" Sora mumbled, trailing off into silence, scratching his ear and dipping his head so his bangs would cover his face. Riku wasn't really sure how to respond.

"Uh, sorry about that. See ya." He pushed his hands back into his jacket pockets and turned back to where he was going. Sora stopped him.

"Wait. Riku." Riku turned around, watching Sora with mild amusement as the boy stood with his mouth halfway open, as if he weren't sure if he could speak or not. The sight was so innocent and endearing that Riku wasn't expecting what came next.

"Are you really a werewolf?"

Riku froze. How would Sora have figured out what he was? Of course. That vampire. Riku silently wished a pox on Cloud Strife for ever indirectly introducing him to these kooks. But, since Sora knew already, and he looked so eager and expectant, and no one was around, and the jacket was getting stuffy, Riku supposed he should just give him what he wanted. He casually lifted a hand and pushed back his hood. Sora's eyes widened in surprise. Like he'd never seen silver hair before.

"Why didn't you tell me?" What a stupid question.

"I barely _know _you. It's not the kind of thing you run around advertising- hey, I'm Riku, I like vodka tonics and long walks on the beach and oh hey I turn into a rabid animal once a month," he said sarcastically. Sora visibly winced at the bitterness in his words. Well, he deserved to wince, for asking overly personal questions. Out on the street, no less! But social boundaries notwithstanding, Sora seemed determined to press on.

"You could've warned me. You attacked me this weekend." Now it was Riku's turn to be shocked. _Sora was attacked? _In the depths of his mind, he reached for a snide comment about how sure, some dog attacks you and of course everyone points at the werewolf, but all he could get out was:

"What?"

"On the west side, in an alley. I got attacked by a werewolf, and far as I can tell, you're the only one in the city," Sora said quietly, once again surprising Riku with how astute he could be. There really weren't any werewolves in New York- Riku hadn't so much as caught a whiff of one the entire time he'd been here, even with consciously looking.

"Don't be so sure. We're good at hiding," he said evasively. But inside, his heart was racing. So he _had _attacked someone. Sora hadn't mentioned a bite, but what if he'd bitten or done worse to someone else? He had to know. Where could he get access to a computer? He needed to check the news for wolf attacks, ASAP. But right now, he was stuck with Sora. He felt claustrophobic, and his anxiety began to build.

"I've never met another werewolf before, Riku. If that's your real name." God, did Sora hunt him down just to annoy him to death with inane questions?

"What, is this Interrogate Riku Day or something?" Riku stopped bothering to hide his irritation. He was in a panic. _I might have killed someone. _"Listen. Were there any weird deaths around the full moon?" Sora may not be the best person to ask, but Riku didn't have time to try to find information elsewhere. "Any bites? Maulings? Please!"

"No! Oh, no, I checked," Sora said hurriedly. "I checked everything really thoroughly, right when I got home that night. No deaths, and no sightings, either. It would have been all over the World News if you'd been spotted- like I said, we don't have werewolves in Manhattan." The good tidings fell on deaf ears. Riku's chest was constricting and he was beginning to hyperventilate. Just like him- a lifetime of transformations, and he still couldn't deal. Dizziness overtook him and he stumbled into the wall. Or at least, he would have, if Sora hadn't caught him.

"Oh, Riku, are you ok?" Stupid question, really, especially considering that Riku was in no shape to answer. He could barely get enough air in himself to stay conscious, and his chest was beginning to ache. Sora set him down roughly. "Uh, hey, you stay here, I'm going to get you some water, ok?" Riku feebly gestured at his pocket. Sora thankfully got the message, pulled out the water, twisted the cap off and handed it back to him. Riku guzzled the liquid gratefully, closed his eyes, and concentrated on controlling his breathing. He'd spent years practicing breathing control- little had he known he would need it halfway around the world. Sora waited impatiently, watching and fidgeting. Eventually, Riku calmed down enough to speak.

"Thanks," he wheezed.

"No problem, I guess." Riku sighed. He supposed he had to be nice, now, since Sora had helped him, and he wasn't in much shape to travel very far for the moment anyway.

"Yes." Sora looked confused, and Riku rolled his eyes. "Yes, Riku is my real name. I really am a werewolf. I really do like vodka tonics. Anything else you want to know?"

"Why are you looking for Botan Shimizu?" Again, right out on the street! Swell. This was the best day ever. Riku's good will was fading fast.

"Sorry. Don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about," Riku said thinly, making the universal zip-your-lips sign over his mouth. Instead of changing the subject, Sora just dropped his voice in volume.

"I was looking on the World News, and it turns out Démé Desmarais hasn't been seen anywhere in _seven months_," he whispered dramatically, closing his fingers into fists.

"So?" Riku rolled his eyes.

"So! I think I was right. I think he's gone missing. This Russian guy named Alexei Godeeski or something hasn't been seen since then, either. And I bet if we started looking, other people will have gone missing too." Sora had the look and manner of someone who had been holding on to an especially juicy piece of gossip for much longer than he could stand.

"I told you, I'm not one for conspiracy theories," Riku muttered. "You really braved the great outdoors just to hunt me down and infect me with your crazy?" Oops. That last part wasn't supposed to be out loud.

"NO," Sora glared, looking more angry than hurt. He was surprisingly thick-skinned, all things considered. "I'm looking for Cloud, I found you by accident. And good thing I did, too." It was a good thing that Sora had found him- it would have been a great deal more difficult to recover by himself. Not that he would ever admit it. Though, if Sora hadn't told him he'd been attacked by a werewolf, he wouldn't have had the anxiety attack in the first place. Everything was very complicated.

"Well, sorry, I can't help you," he said tiredly. His hunger was long forgotten- he just wanted to find somewhere to sleep. He found himself oddly longing for his warehouse.

"No, but I helped you!" Sora beamed, feathers rustling.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping your brother?" The words came out more harshly than Riku had wanted, but he needed to do something to get Sora to go away. He just wanted to drag himself back to his busted up warehouse and pass out. Today had just been way too much for him, on top of recovering from a full transformation and wolfy night on the town. _I never should have bothered to climb out of that gutter._

"Cloud doesn't need my help," Sora was saying, oblivious to the fact that Riku wasn't paying attention. "He was supposed to come visit me this weekend and he didn't and I got really upset, and, well, I guess I decided I should go out and find him… it sounds kinda stupid, saying it like this," he said sheepishly. Yes, yes it did. But Riku felt obligated to say something to make him feel better.

"Oh, uh, no, I'm sure he'll be really touched that you went out to look for him..?" Riku didn't do comforting well, but the gesture seemed to be enough for Sora, who smiled at him and perked his wings up.

"Hey, where do you live?"

"What?" Did Sora really just ask him where he _lived_?

"Are you living somewhere?" Sora asked again, more slowly, as if possibly Riku didn't understand the question. Riku understood the question perfectly well, and the resounding answer was _not with you. _

"Yeah, I've got a place," he said vaguely, hoping the answer would satisfy.

"You need help getting there?" Sora had a promising future as one of those volunteers who house-sat lonely old people.

"No, thanks. I feel a lot better now." To prove it, Riku stood up, keeping his knees locked so as not to sway. He was still feeling a little dizzy, but no way was he going to let his new mother see that.

"You sure?"

"Jesus, yes, I'm fine!" Riku snapped. Sora was completely unfazed.

"Ok, then. I'll see you later?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." So long as there weren't any specifics, Riku would agree to anything. Sora thankfully didn't ask for any, and spread his wings, hovering into a rather blustery take-off.

"Remember what I told you!" he shouted as he flapped away. What, the stuff about how the World News lost its interest in Frenchy McWhatshisface? Yeah, when little boys fly. Riku watched Sora soar out of sight, and sighed.

"Forever and always," he said, as sincerely as he could manage, half-heartedly waving goodbye.

* * *

Leon awoke with a jolt, and leaped out of bed like a firecracker had been lit underneath him. He sprinted to the bathroom, threw open the toilet seat, and hurled. It wasn't a small amount of puke, either- Leon ate a very large dinner. The sight and smell of the regurgitated blood only made the nausea worse, and he threw up again, this time thoroughly vacating his insides. Unfortunately, his body was hell-bent on getting rid of everything inside it, so he kept retching until his stomach was completely empty. Then he dry-heaved painfully against the side of the toilet for another couple minutes, just so his body could be absolutely convinced that there was nothing left inside it. More simply put, Leon felt like shit.

_I bit Cloud. _He collapsed woozily onto the cold tile floor. _I bit Cloud and he tasted good and I liked it. _At the thought, he convulsed and started retching again. Throaty spit dribbled out of his mouth. This was it, he was over. He could never trust himself to be around people ever again, knowing that he had erotic fantasies about turning his friends. He might as well lock himself in his room and never come out. Wait, what was he thinking?

_God! Get a grip, Leonhart, _he admonished himself, pulling himself upright and leaning back against the sink. A chip in the wood on the cheap vanity was poking him in the back. _It was just a dream. It'll never be reality, and no one ever has to know._ But he still couldn't quell the guilt, at least, he supposed it was guilt. He dreamed about killing his best friend. While having sex with him. That was sick, that was twisted, that was every single kind of wrong that could be. He shivered. No one could know- he'd take the secret to the grave with him. It's not like anyone was ever around him while he slept, and as far as he knew, he wasn't a sleep-talker. No one would ever have to find out, least of all Cloud, who never even came around anyway. _Cloud!_

Cloud was supposed to come tonight to hang out with Sora. _Oh my God, he could be here right now. _Leon took a deep breath, sniffing the air to see if the kid's deadbeat brother was around, if there was even the slightest possibility that he may have heard what was going on in Leon's head. Cloud had a very distinctive, pungent yet sweet scent, that Leon would recognize anywhere. Deep and masculine and _human_. And he was most definitely not inside the church. _Well, in any case, I should go make sure Sora hasn't killed himself or anything. _Leon flushed the toilet three times, ran a towel over the floor and his fingers through his hair, brushed his teeth twice, and set off downstairs, ignoring the kitchen even though his stomach was growling.

"Sora? Hey, kid, you ok?" He didn't get a response, so he walked over to the corner directly underneath Sora's bed. "Hey. Cloud never showed up?" Nothing. A lump was settling in Leon's empty gut, and his mouth was painfully dry. "Sora?" No one else was in the church. _Shit. Shit, shit, shit! _Sora was gone. Leon had to find him right now. He stormed over to the door and grabbed his coat. Leave it to Sora to run off in the middle of the night like an overdramatic teenager. _He __**is**__ an overdramatic teenager, _a tiny voice reminded him, and he ignored it, grabbing his coat and banging the door open, nearly whacking an awkward-looking, lanky kid with white-blonde, strawy hair.

"Ah- hi, are you Squall Leo-"

"Sorry. We're closed," he said gruffly, walking off without even looking at his customer, and not stopping until he reached the sidewalk. He lifted his nose into the wind and searched for Sora's scent- definitely unique, with the feathers, but not nearly as enticing as Cloud's. The smells of the city were far too strong- the stench of pollution, dog piss, homelessness and rotting food was too overpowering to pick out anything specific.

"Sir, please, if you have a moment-" Leon ignored him and kept moving. God knows what could happen to Sora out alone in this city- he had survived that assignment, but he'd be reckless if he were out looking for Cloud. And Leon knew that that was exactly what Sora would be doing. So, if he were Sora and looking for Cloud, which direction would he go? Didn't help that the kid was able to fly. With a sigh of resignation, Leon picked a direction at random, and started walking south.

* * *

Woo! Ten chapters, and over 50,000 words! Hard to believe it came this far. Thoughts and constructive criticism are always appreciated- this is only my second real fic, and I don't do a lot of creative writing usually. Any characters you like? Any characters you want to see more of? Are you, like me, slowly coming to realize that there are way too many characters in this fic? Questions, comments and concerns? Are the chapter lengths good? (I try to keep it between 4 and 5 thousand usually, which ends up being 5,000+ with notes and whatnot.) Is the pacing good? Please, please tell me. I really appreciate it. :) And thank you again, to everyone who's subscribed and faved this fic, even though I admit it's kind of weird, lol. I have fun writing it. :)

Self-Indulgent Story Trivia (because my beta thinks it's fun): I picked Demyx's name off an internet list of French names starting with D, but it turns out there's a famous musician from Burkina Faso named Victor Démé. Funny coincidence.


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

Penelo leaned on her fist while the numbers flashed in front of her. Here she was, running her diagnostic on Naminé, and contrary to what she'd expected, it was boring as piss. The girl really didn't seem to be any more than a standard series of 0s and 1s- an expertly programmed computer-to-English translator. But Penelo could smell magic all over Kairi and her little creation. For all she knew, both of them could be working some crazy mojo on her right now. But of course, she _wouldn't_ know.

_Oh, Naminé. You've got me, _she thought ruefully. _I'm rubber, and you're glue. Any magic you use bounces off me and sticks to-_

"You!" Penelo nearly fell out of her wobbly and uncomfortable chair, but managed to compose herself. "Stop that," Kairi finished irritably, and Hayner obediently swept the paper footballs he'd been stockpiling into a nearby trash can, muttering under his breath. The rest of the team was, of course, doing research on Kairi's command, except for Olette, who was taking a break to do maintenance work on the POEM. POEM stood for Point Of Entry Machine- an inappropriately cutesy name for the terrifying claw-like thing that had the ability to convert human beings into data. The DIZ Team loved acronyms, but ironically, none of them were quite sure what DIZ stood for. On an especially dull shift, Penelo and Olette had decided it meant Deep In Zhit, and that seemed about as fitting as anything else she'd heard.

"Anyone find anything good?" Pence asked timidly, trying to break the awkward silence. Only awkward silence replied to him. Kairi wasn't nearly as snappy today as she usually was- in fact, she'd been almost disturbingly quiet all day, ever since her and Penelo's heart-to-heart the night before. Well, if you could call getting attacked a heart-to-heart. Penelo almost wished that this was a real job so she could get some reparations for that. Seriously. She'd been assaulted by her immediate supervisor not once but _two times_ inside of a single week. Though it hadn't escaped her attention that Kairi hadn't tried to use her powers on her the second time. Whether that was because Kairi figured her out, or because she had been too drunk to care, Penelo couldn't be completely sure.

"What are we researching today?"

"Michael Adey."

"Oh. Uh, cool. Why?" Penelo answered her own question almost immediately. "Oh wait, that whole Rock thing."

"Heh. Yeah. The whole Rock thing." Penelo wished she could see more than data from the fight Roxas and Saïx had had- it was almost definitely one hell of a match. The thought of forcing individuals to fight like roosters or dogs under the guise of 'research' made her queasy, however, so maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

"So far as we can tell, he never left Australia. Well, before coming here. According to this woman who claims to have known him when he was little, he was deathly afraid of flying…" Pence mused.

"Ha! Sorry, that's kind of funny," Hayner laughed, resting his feet on one of the computer monitors. No one bothered to stop him- after all, if he broke it, he was the one who would have to fix it.

"Well, the same lady also says he ate live cockroaches and howled at the sun. So, not the most reliable source. _Next_…" Pence dramatically clicked, signaling his move from article to article. Another long silence settled over the group, each member doing her or his own work quietly. The POEM beeped and buzzed as Olette put it through the motions, making sure everything was still working properly. Suddenly, it let out a loud clank, startling the room out of its reverent concentration, and Olette swore under her breath. Hayner, who had been glancing over at her every few seconds for quite some time, ventured to speak.

"So, uh, Olette. How's the POEM machine?" he asked politely.

"Point of Entry Machine Machine?" Kairi quipped, without looking up from her work.

"Oh, just shut _up,_" Hayner spat. Kairi smiled to herself, obviously keeping score in her head, but let the subject drop. Yes, she was much more subdued today than normal. There was always the possibility that she had just drunk herself into a stupor, but Penelo didn't smell any alcohol, so that probably wasn't it. Kairi was unpredictable at best, but this sudden calculated quietness was downright dangerous. The rest of the DIZ Team seemed content just to appreciate and take advantage of the blessing of their boss's relative good humor, but Penelo was more on edge than ever. She just wished Kytes were here so he could tell her what was going on in that girl's _mind_.

Penelo had signed on to the DIZ Team approximately six months before. 'Approximately,' because there was no time here. She hadn't seen sky since the day she moved in. Kairi sometimes got to go to Ansem's office on the top floor of the Shinra Building, so they could rest assured that the outside world still existed. Or maybe it didn't, and Kairi was staging an elaborate hoax designed to make the four of them so crazy that they would lose it and start having sex all willy-nilly and unconsentingly repopulate the human race. There probably weren't even Nobodies, or even a DIZ Team. It was probably all an elaborate hoax to keep them stuck here. Oh God, she was coming up with conspiracy theories. _I've got lab-in fever._

The paranoia was hard to avoid, however. Penelo spent all of her time spying on Kairi and Naminé, and she _knew _something was going on. She had heard their conversation about the memories of the thirteen Nobodies; she had heard them discussing how they were going to hide it. Kairi had jumped to the conclusion that she was feeding information to Ansem. The girl was brilliant; she would be a formidable opponent were she ever sober.

"Miss Smith?" Kairi looked up, along the rest of the team, who could never resist a spectacle. Just a standard security guard. That meant that Kairi was being summoned to speak with Ansem. Again. Twice in two days? Normally Ansem couldn't be bothered that the five of them existed, except for footing the bill for food and lab coats. And then, instead of complaining about it and dragging her feet, sometimes literally, like she usually did, Kairi just flipped her laptop shut and left with the guard. What was she up to? As soon as the door slid shut, the mechanics let out a heavy sigh of relief and stopped doing their research. Even Olette stopped fiddling with the POEM.

"Ding, dong, the witch is gone," Hayner muttered. Penelo figured that Kairi was in fact a witch of some sort, but that that probably wasn't what Hayner was going for. Being around another Other in such close quarters had made her paranoid. Once she was gone, the lack of magic in the room was almost comforting. Except, of course, the faint traces radiating off of the computer, which now held Penelo's undivided attention. She ignored Hayner as he clipped all his things shut and prepared to leave.

"This is pointless. I'm out. Anyone coming with?" He directed the question mainly at Olette, who shrugged.

"She'll get pissed if we're gone, and there's nothing to do outside that we can't do here anyway… might as well stay," she reasoned. Hayner rolled his eyes.

"Well, your loss. Come find me _when _you get bored." He strutted out of the lab like a peacock in full bloom, leaving the remaining techs in a peaceful and unaggressive atmosphere. Penelo hadn't noticed before just how _intense _Hayner and Kairi made everything. Though, she also hadn't noticed before today how obviously Hayner had the hots for Olette. Might as well get some fun out of this, since they were stuck here.

"I think he likes you," she told her friend, grinning. Olette blushed, but opted to play dumb.

"What?"

"I think she's right," Pence agreed. "He's so obvious about it, too. Did you see when he asked you about the POEM machine?"

"He was just trying to be nice!" Olette continued to feign ignorance. The girl really was pretty, with an exotic combination of light olive skin, jet black hair, and pale green eyes. Kairi, too, with her dark red hair and dark blue eyes and the dusting of freckles over her nose. Penelo herself was the shortest and the chubbiest, with the biggest hips, and coarse white-blonde hair that in her opinion made her look washed out all the time. She knew objectively that she shouldn't care, of course, but couldn't shake the feeling that being the dumpiest girl in the room was never easy. Her twin brother Vaan had taken all of the tall-and-skinny genes in the family, and she was still incredibly bitter about it.

"Exactly. When has Hayner ever been nice?" Pence joked easily. He was far too good-natured to ever say anything genuinely mean about anyone.

"Oh, you guys." Olette's blush deepened. "You really think so?"

"Most definitely," Penelo smirked.

"One hundred percent," Pence concurred.

"Oh. Well, if you say so…" Olette flipped her hair over her shoulder and giggled, just the way someone used to attention from boys would react. Penelo sighed and went back to Naminé. The diagnostic was nowhere close to being done. She supposed that the glimmer of teenage normalcy that the Hayner/Olette flirtation represented should be treated like the breath of fresh air that it was. The DIZ Team's peers out in the real world would be going out on dates and getting ready for proms right about now, not having conversations with computers and playing babysitter with a bunch of braindead criminals.

Penelo had volunteered for this position- in fact, she had actively sought it out. She had not, however, in her wildest of speculations, expected an Other to be immediately supervising the DIZ Project. That in and of itself was insane beyond all reason. What the Shinra Corporation was doing to Others here- how did Kairi live with herself? She glanced over at her DIZ Team peers. Did _they _know what they were doing? They'd all been living together for six months, and she barely knew anything about them. The thought gave her a twinge of guilt- she really hadn't bothered to find out anything about the people she was spending her life with. Well, might as well start with the basics.

"So, uh. Do you guys have last names?" she asked, somewhat awkwardly. It was rather embarrassing to admit that you'd been spending close to all of your waking hours with people for several months and had no idea what their surnames were. Pence and Olette stopped the card game they'd apparently started while she was focused on Naminé, and stared at her, then each other. Pence shrugged and spoke first.

"Yeah. Pence." Pence Pence? "My first name's George. I absolutely hate it," he clarified. Encouraged, Olette spoke up next.

"My last name's Sheridan. You know, like the hotel? I'm pretty sure my family's not related to them, though. I mean, I clearly don't have any hotel fortunes coming my way." She laughed at her own joke, a pretty sound that matched her face and mannerisms. George Pence and Olette Sheridan. Penelo felt that she knew her workmates a good deal better, just by knowing that much.

"I guess it's just me, then. I don't have one. I got orphaned as a really little kid- I don't even remember my parents. I picked out the name Penelo for myself, when I ran away from the orphanage where they stuck me," she explained, realizing as the paragraph went on that this was probably a much more serious and depressing story than her coworkers wanted to hear. Leave it to her to suck the joy and amiability out of a room.

"Whoa," Pence said quietly.

"Why did you run away?" Olette asked curiously. They probably hadn't heard such a dramatic story in a while- the most exciting thing that ever happened on the DIZ Team was Kairi 'accidentally' spilling her drink on Hayner and trying to blame Naminé for it, which happened often enough that it really shouldn't be funny anymore, but it so totally was.

"I ran away when-" _When I found out I was an Other. _"I dunno, I just felt trapped. I just up and left one day." She averted her eyes and twiddled one of her long braids, a habit she had when she was nervous. She'd just shared much more information than she was planning to. Luckily, Pence and Olette were cool about it.

"Then how'd you end up here?" Pence tried to joke, to lighten the mood.

"I know, I know. Ironic, huh," Penelo smiled. She knew she wasn't meant to answer the question.

"Really, though. How _did _we all end up here?" Olette murmured. She fumbled with the cards in her hands- "cards" she'd made herself from computer paper and a pencil. All of their personal belongings were taken away when they'd arrived. Well, at least they got to keep their names, right?

Right?

* * *

"Hey, Zexion. Hey." Demyx nudged his bunkmate in the shoulder, rolling him back and forth, one and two and one and two. "Zexion. Wake up. Please." Demyx always asked nicely.

"Just close your eyes, it'll be ok," Zexion mumbled, rolling over away from Demyx.

"My eyes are already open," Demyx replied, confused.

"Be quiet, Demyx." The bunk next to theirs housed Saïx and Luxord, and the former was the one who spoke. He had never liked Demyx very much, Demyx knew that. After some thought he decided not to reply, since Saïx wouldn't listen anyway, so it would be a net waste of energy. He almost missed Luxord's correction.

"No. You should be louder. Someone's looking for you." Demyx didn't process the words fast enough to get a chance to ask who.

"Demyx?" Zexion finally woke up, and was staring at him. Demyx realized he was still hunched over Zexion's bed. Well, the better to tell him what happened.

"Zexion, I had the thing. I saw things while I was sleeping," he whispered excitedly.

"Really?" Zexion's eyes widened and he woke up fully, sitting up in bed.

"Yeah." Demyx nodded vigorously. Wild images swirled in his mind, and he steadied himself, preparing to share with Zexion the wonders of what his subconscious had decided to show him. His dream was indescribable- he had seen things he didn't even know existed.

"What did you see?" He opened his mouth, and took a deep breath.

"I…" Then he closed it again. His mind was blank, as if everything had suddenly leaked out his ears. He thought really hard, squeezing his eyes shut. Nope, nothing. "I don't remember," he whined, defeated. Then he did remember something. "I was all wet." That was all that was left- the sense memory of having water on him. He slumped his shoulders, miserable at having lost the memory he so desperately craved.

"I don't remember, either," Zexion comforted him. Demyx felt a little better.

"Do you think it'll happen again?" he asked. He wasn't sure whether to be excited or worried, and settled for an in-between of very high-strung excitement, which was making his heart beat uncomfortably fast, so maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"It happens to me every night." Zexion murmured, probably more to himself.

"Do you ever remember?" Demyx asked quietly.

"No." Demyx was beginning to notice that he talked more than Zexion. In fact, Zexion didn't talk very much at all, and he almost never asked any questions. He supposed that was just a difference in… what was the word? Personalities, that was it. Zexion had a different kind of personality.

"We should tell Axel and Roxas," he said definitively. Maybe they had been seeing things at night, too. Maybe that was why Roxas was acting the way he was. Or maybe that was just his personality, as well. Personality was a very useful concept for Demyx. He wondered why he had forgotten it. Did he have a forgetful personality?

"Ok." Zexion agreed with a shrug, and the two of them set off for the shower.

The shower was already full, since Zexion and Demyx had been the last to get out of bed, so they took the last two shower heads (for there were exactly eight), which were at opposite sides of the room. The showers turned on automatically. While he was being cleaned, Demyx entertained himself as he usually did by making funny shapes with the water on the floor. The puddles morphed themselves into a man running, then a bed, and then a bowtie. A bowtie? Demyx shook his head to get rid of a sudden headache, and the water spread back into its normal shapelessness.

After showering, the students all went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Today's breakfast was some kind of oatmeal or porridge. Demyx was hungry, so he didn't really focus on what it was. He and Zexion sat at their usual end of the table with Axel and Roxas, who Axel had taken to dragging everywhere to make sure he wouldn't wander away or stay by himself.

"Hi," Axel said simply to both of them, as he tried to get Roxas to eat his breakfast with utensils instead of his hands. He was having limited success.

"Hi, Axel," said Zexion and Demyx.

"How are you?" Axel asked distractedly, grabbing Roxas's hand to stop him from smearing oatmeal on his pants. Roxas squeaked in protest and hit Axel with the spoon he was clutching in his other hand.

"Good," said Zexion. "Bad," said Demyx, at the exact same time.

"Bad?" Axel blinked. Roxas won the battle, and triumphantly wiped food all over Axel's pants. Yes, Demyx was not feeling very well this morning.

"Axel, do you ever have dreams?" Demyx asked, dropping his voice to a whisper in case anyone was listening. For whatever reason, it felt like having dreams was not the natural order of things. Like someone would punish him if they found out, and take his dreams away. He was desperately protective of them.

"What is that?" Axel asked irritably, cleaning himself.

"Do you see things while you're sleeping," Zexion explained again.

"No, I don't think so…" the red-head said slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you, Roxas?" Demyx asked.

"I'm Roxas," Roxas said proudly, dipping both his hands into his breakfast. Suddenly, his shoulders twitched, and he pulled his hands back out with a yelp.

"You see things while you're sleeping?" Axel asked, nudging Roxas worriedly.

"Yes," said Zexion simply, in what Demyx had just discovered to be his one-syllable personality.

"It happened to Zexion, and then it happened to me," he explained more clearly. Axel was interested, but Roxas had zoned out, staring at a distant point on the wall.

"But you don't remember?" Axel asked skeptically. Demyx remembered when he had been skeptical. It felt so long ago, now.

"I remember water- I was wet," Demyx said defensively. He, of all people, should be trusted to remember something where water was involved.

"I always see a girl but I don't remember who she is," Zexion mumbled.

"What's a girl?" Axel asked curiously. Demyx wanted to know, too, but Axel had gotten there first.

"Like Larxene," Zexion snapped. He was cranky because he didn't like talking about his dreams. Demyx knew that. Wait, a girl? Like Larxene?

"So that's what she is?" Demyx asked, amazed. He remembered that day in the shower, where he'd had the showerhead next to Larxene, and accidentally glanced over and noticed that there was nothing _there. _He'd asked her what happened and she'd just walked away. After that, he hadn't broached the subject with anyone. Until now.

"What happened to her?" Axel asked worriedly, his eyes wide. So, he'd had the same thought, then.

"Nothing. Girls are just different from boys." Axel and Demyx looked at each other. "We're boys," Zexion finished flatly, rolling his eyes. Roxas stared curiously down at his crotch.

"How do you know that?" Axel asked suspiciously.

"I just do." Zexion ended the conversation by getting up to leave. Demyx also knew now that Zexion didn't like questions.

"Zexion doesn't like questions," he explained to Axel. He was proud of himself for figuring out so much, all in one day. Thanks to the dream, of course.

"Do you like questions?" Demyx nodded. "You really saw something while you were asleep?" Axel's entire manner changed, and he leaned forward, his eyes wide and excited. He almost lost his grip on Roxas, who was trying to follow Zexion.

"Yeah. I did. Maybe you will, now, too!" Demyx smiled. He would have another dream, and next time he would remember. He was sure of it.

* * *

Kairi gracefully allowed the security guard to lead her all the way to the elevator, though she wasn't sure why they felt the need to give her an escort. Had Penelo told someone about their skirmish the night before? No- she couldn't have. And right now she was in the lab, performing her diagnostic on Naminé, where she of course wouldn't find anything. Kairi's own diagnostic was already finished and forwarded to the higher-ups. Was that why he wanted to speak to Kairi again so soon? Had he actually seen something? Impossible. Kairi was so sure of both Naminé's ability to hide herself and her boss's ineptitude with computers that she didn't even bother to get anxious. When they reached the elevators, however, the guard kept walking past them. Kairi stopped.

"Uh, we're not going upstairs?"

"Oh, no," said the guard. He was a nice guy, despite working for the Shinra Corporation. But if he had any contact with the DIZ Project at all, that meant he was dead to the outside world, and Kairi had enough ghosts in her closet already, thank you. "There was a problem in your apartment." Kairi's blood ran cold.

"What happened to my apartment?"

"Well, you'll see." The guard smiled goofily, and inappropriately, as far as Kairi was concerned. Anything out of the ordinary in the basement of the Shinra Building set off roaring alarm bells. Kairi had seen enough employees come and disappear forever to know that for sure. Employees here had quite the job-fatality turnover rate. But if she tried to ditch her impromptu tour, there would be more trouble for her down the road. She had to stick it out to the end.

_Did the others stick it out to the end? _Kairi's thoughts lingered on all of the members the DIZ Team had seen over the years. She tried to forget them, not get too attached. They went away much too quickly. Alive they were a threat to Shinra, so as soon as they weren't useful anymore… Kairi swallowed hard. Had she also outlived her usefulness?

Even after two years of living there, Kairi still didn't have the intricate hallways of Shinra's basement memorized, and so she couldn't shake the feeling that they were most definitely not headed in the direction of her living quarters. Her escort seemed to turn at random, getting even more lost than she was. Finally, she stopped.

"Where are we going?" she asked quietly, planting herself firmly in the hallway. The guard jumped in surprise at the sudden noise.

"Your apartment," he answered, as if the answer was obvious.

"We are not going towards my apartment. I don't even know where we are," she hissed. "And I am not taking another step towards wherever the hell we _are _going until you tell me wherever the hell that _is._" She crossed her arms. She didn't want to push it too far and get in a real fight, since the guard was armed and she was of course not. The guard, however, seemed to melt before her. They were trying to off her, and this guy was the best they could send? She was almost insulted.

"Oh, God. Don't tell anyone I told you, ok?" he said nervously. "It's not your _old_ apartment. It's the new one. They told me to surprise you. Oh, God, please don't tell them I told you!" Kairi looked at him like he was stupid.

"Are you serious? Who thought surprising me by dragging me blindly through a basement was a good idea?" she asked sarcastically. She wanted nothing to do with whatever this new apartment was. _It_ probably wanted her blood. "Why, exactly, am I getting a new apartment? What was wrong with my old one?" The old 'apartment' could hardly be called such- it was just a room with a bed, on a hall with many other rooms with beds, and a shared one-room bathroom. But still, it was home.

"Nothing! Nothing," the guard protested. "I don't know, I'm just the messenger! The door's right there, find out for yourself!" Kairi looked, and the door did in fact have a nameplate that read _Kairi Smith._ Curiouser and curiouser.

"Fine. But you're staying out here," she ordered, and she creeped over to the door.

"Fine." The guard moved to the end of the hallway and stood quietly. Assured that he wasn't going to figuratively or literally stab her in the back, Kairi turned the knob, and peeked inside. She threw open the door and gasped.

The first item that stole her attention was the queen-sized bed, which of course took up most of the small room. The bed was covered in thick white bedding, and adorned with fluffy pillows. At the foot of the bed was an actual reading desk and chair, and Kairi caught sight of another door in the corner. Her breath hitched in her throat as she walked over to it. She nudged the door open, and caught a glimpse of porcelain. _Her own bathroom. _No more pounding on the door at three A.M., waiting for Olette to finish her fifth shower of the day. No more needing to clean up Hayner's shaving cream (which she was convinced he didn't actually need) before she could brush her teeth. No more having to see Penelo outside of work at _all_. That was enough for Kairi, and she whooped with joy and threw herself onto her new bed, more than twice the width of the old one, and she rolled around gleefully. Too late, she realized that she had sat on a note. Apprehension tugged in her chest. She yanked the letter out of the envelope and opened it in front of her eyes.

_Dear Miss Smith,_

_I am sorry for Mr. Wise's harsh words yesterday. The Shinra Corporation feels that your work is an invaluable addition to our company, and we hope to continue sponsoring you for years to come. Please accept these new living arrangements as both an apology for Mr. Wise's untoward behavior, and a thank you for your many months of excellent service. _

Kairi read the note two times. It was signed by the owner of the company. The bathroom excitement was wearing off, and now the separation from the rest of the team was beginning to seem rather odd. Had they heard her conversation with Penelo the night before? Well, at face value, it would seem that the owner of the company thought she was more useful than Ansem did. Maybe they were fighting, and she was a pawn in some elaborate power play she couldn't hope to understand. In any case, her hands were tied, and she couldn't deny the gift without appearing suspicious, so she might as well enjoy it. She walked out to the hallway, and gave the guard a reasonably friendly grin.

"Tell them I love it. If you see them, I mean."

"Can do, Miss Smith." She went back inside, locked the door, cracked open a frothy beverage, and walked over to fully admire her new bathroom. All of it was beautiful. Her own toilet, her own sink, her own shower _with a tub. _Honestly, what more could a girl want?

* * *

Larxene lazily watched the other group, hunched together and whispering about something or other. All except the short one, Roxas, who was alternatively staring off into space and confusedly at Axel, whenever the red-head tried to get his attention. They were a weird bunch, those others. She turned back to her own group, all casually eating breakfast.

"I liked the lesson yesterday," said Marluxia. Larxene liked Marluxia- he smelled good.

"I didn't," said Saïx, who had a tendency to disagree with Marluxia.

"Lessons are not lessons," Luxord said vaguely. Larxene had learned to just ignore him long ago- nothing he ever said made any sense. She often wondered how someone like that had even gotten into Twilight Town Academy, a highly selective military school for gifted pupils. She had the entire pamphlet memorized.

Yes, Larxene wondered about a lot of things. Most often she wondered why she was different from everyone else. No one ever said anything about it, or treated her as if she were different, but she could tell. It was all hiding there in that one little word: _she. _All of the pupils shared a shower, of course, and she could easily see that her body was different from everyone else's, mysteriously lacking in one area in particular, and with mysterious additions in various others. She just didn't know why.

Suddenly, she was aware of everyone at the other end of the table staring at her. She glanced over, and saw Roxas intently considering his groin. So, that's what they were thinking about, then. She felt herself blush slightly and she turned back to her companions.

"There are more outside," Luxord told her in an attempt to be reassuring. She ignored him.

"Oatmeal tastes good," she said conversationally, turning her attentions to Marluxia and Saïx to get her mind off of things.

"Yes. I like the taste of oatmeal," Marluxia agreed. Saïx stopped eating. Larxene sighed as the bell rang, and gathered herself up to go to the work-out room.

* * *

Quick update this time, and with an extra POV, to boot! Tune in for the next chapter, wherein Zexion teaches everyone about the birds and the bees, Roxas finger paints on the nice white furniture, Axel starts a LOLshevik revolution, Demyx turns out to be Roxas's evil twin brother from a parallel dimension, Riku exacts some brutal vigilante street justice on some unsuspecting thugs, Pun-elo strikes again, Kytes loses a job because he smells bad, Leon refuses to rescue a helpless kitten from a tree until someone pays him for it, Vamp!Cloud licks bloody oatmeal off of the kitchen floor, Sora opens a high-end hatmaking business and then ignites a national uproar when he refuses to tell anyone the secret source of his hats' beautiful feathers, and Kairi decides she's going to wear her GOOD lab coat today, laundry be damned.

Q of the day: Who do you think the owner of the company is?


	12. Chapter 15

This was supposed to be chapter 12, but I, uh, forgot about it. So, instead of the delicious Cleon angst you were promised, you get Roxas and Axel. Some may like this surprise change of plans, some may not, whatever. There'll be plenty of Cleon angst to go 'round, don't worry, just… not right now.

This chapter was written, like pretty much all of them are, with a beer in one hand and while jamming to skanky European pop-rock dance beats. Enjoy!

* * *

The second time Rock Mann met the infamous Alexei Gorodetsky, the latter had acquired some facial tattoos and a good deal of attitude. About two and a half years had passed since their first meeting in Poland, and this one was a complete accident; the two of them simply happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Rock was in Moscow on a mission. Fortunately for him, the job had gone much more smoothly than his team had anticipated, and he had obtained the information he needed more than twelve hours ahead of schedule. Instead of phoning for an early extraction, as he supposed he probably should have done, Rock was content to use his hard-earned free time to explore the city. He'd been wandering around on foot for hours, now, staying in areas with a good deal of foot traffic but otherwise being completely careless. He was busily thinking about how excited Aerith would be to hear about everything he'd seen in Moscow when he crashed into someone who was turning a corner and got knocked flat onto his butt.

"… Rock?" _Damn straight it's Rock, you clumsy jackwipe!_ Wait, how did someone know his name? He looked up, and then jerked upright in surprise when he realized was staring at the guy he'd sprung from a secret prison two years before. Alexei was, were it possible, even taller and leaner than he'd been back then. He was wearing a hat to cover up some of his distinctive red hair, and he'd gotten tattoos on both of his cheeks, but he was most definitely the same person, staring down his nose at Rock with one eyebrow raised.

"Alexei?" Rock finally squeaked. He'd known about his mission in Moscow for months, and the possibility of running into Alexei Gorodetsky on the street had never even crossed his mind. He was excited, in spite of himself- Alexei was the only person that he knew outside of the Institute, and that automatically made him the most interesting guy in the world.

"Why are you in Russia?" Alexei asked curiously, as he extended his hand to help Rock back on his feet. Well, he _would_ have been the most interesting guy in the world, were Rock able to understand anything he said. Alexei sighed and decided to try again. "Moscow? Russia? Why are you here?" Rock shrugged his shoulders helplessly. English was not on the list of subjects his handlers felt he needed to know. Usually, it didn't bother him much, but right now he was wishing like hell that Aerith were around to translate for him. Her English was perfect, at least, as far as Rock was concerned- he'd tried to make her teach him some but she said no because she was too afraid of getting in trouble. And so, he was left mute, and silently cursing the cold bastards back at the Institute.

"No English," he said softly, in case Alexei had forgotten. The redhead chuckled a little, and Rock smiled, too.

"Ah. Still Nish?" Alexei teased. Rock glared at him, but he didn't really mean it. No one else had ever given him a nickname. Alexei tried again. "Thank you for Poland. Do you understand me? Danke for Poland?" Rock perked up immediately.

"Ach, das war doch kein Problem!" he said happily, thrilled to actually almost have a conversation. Unfortunately, his sudden outburst in German shut it down right quick. Looks like Alexei hadn't learned any German in the interim, either, despite his use of _danke_. Well, then. He looked up at the other boy hopelessly. Alexei, by contrast, had leaped right over the language barrier and was clearly planning something- Rock could see the gears turning in the taller Russian's head as he looked him up and down. Finally, he came to some sort of decision, crossing his arms and considering Rock with a cocky grin.

"I am going to buy you a coffee," he declared. When Rock clearly wasn't getting it, he leaned down and said "Cof-fee," much more slowly, spelling it out for Rock's Nishy benefit.

"Kaffee?" he asked, both confused and irritated at being patronized.

"Yes!" Alexei said triumphantly, and without further warning, he grabbed Rock's hand and dragged him off in a completely new direction. Rock's instincts told him to take his hand back, but hey, he still had more than eight hours to kill, and besides, he'd seen Alexei Gorodetsky in a fight- he could totally kick his ass if it came to that. And so, Rock found himself being dragged into a tiny coffee shop with mismatched tables and chairs, and dropped in a corner while Alexei went to get them drinks. He had no words with which to tell Alexei that he always drank his coffee black, so when the boy came back and deposited a frothy, sugary horror in front of him, he just said thank you and accepted it gratefully. Alexei busily dumped a few more sugar packets into his own drink- Rock's stomach churned- and then he tried to make conversation.

"How is your coffee?" he asked. Rock understood not a word, and just shrugged. Alexei rolled his eyes and pulled a pen out of a mystery pants pocket, twirling it over his fingers in a way that Rock found very sexy indeed, especially considering that Alexei was evidently left-handed. With a smirk, like he _knew _he was hot shit, Alexei pushed the button on the end a single time, then crouched over a napkin, using his right arm as a shield so that Rock couldn't see what he was writing. Finally, Alexei swept both hands away, in an elaborate reveal of…

…a picture of a coffee cup. Next to the cup were two crudely drawn hands, one giving a thumbs up and one giving a thumbs down. Then there was a big question mark. Rock tried his best not to laugh at the cryptic picture-language, and barely managed to extend one arm in a thumbs-up. Alexei beamed like an idiot, and Rock grinned at the glimpse of the bumbling doof he'd rescued two years before. Good to know the attitude was mostly an act, then. Alexei pulled the napkin back and scribbled something new. Rock looked at it curiously.

_Why are you in Russia?_

Well… Russia was capitalized- that probably meant he meant _Russland_. And he understood 'you' and 'in'- Alexei must be asking him why he was in Russia. Rock grabbed his pen, hoped the English word for 'work' would be something similar, and scribbled back:

_die Arbeit _

Alexei stared at it. He stared some more, then looked up at Rock and shrugged right back. Rock sighed, flipped the napkin over to the clean side, and started drawing. First he drew a rough body shape, then he started adding all his spy gear- his belt with all his little gadgets, his goggles, his body armor, and finally, he added his own spiky hair and a sword in his hand so that Alexei would know it was him. He added the caption :

_SPION – Rock bei der Arbeit_

Alexei looked at the picture, and giggled. He crossed out SPION and wrote SPY?, then pushed the napkin back for Rock to examine. He recognized the word 'spy,' it being what he was, and he nodded vigorously, happy at being understood. He came to Russia to spy on people, which was his job. Well… he hoped that wouldn't offend Alexei too badly. He grabbed the napkin back, circled Alexei's original question, and showed it to him. He laughed, and wrote:

_I live here._

Rock looked at the napkin, and then shrugged. He understood 'I' and 'here,' but without the verb, he had no idea what the sentence was supposed to mean. Alexei helped him by drawing a little picture of a house, and a stick figure with crazy hair. Rock smiled, and wrote back:

_Cool._ One word that was blessedly the same in almost every language. Thanks, America! Rock really wanted to go there someday. Seifer had been once, but he wouldn't tell anyone about it, and Rock was convinced he was just withholding semi-interesting information just to be a stick-up-the-butt douchehat.

Since talking was such a hassle, the two teenagers settled for drinking their coffee in silence. Well, Alexei drank his, and then he drank Rock's, when it was clear that he wasn't going to. Rock was content just to sit and look around the shop. He had never been in a coffee shop before, and this place couldn't be more different than the cafeteria inside the Institute. For one, everything was just so _colorful- _artwork, paintings and photographs, hung all over the walls, most of them with price tags indicating that they were for sale. Then the mixed up chairs, and the benches with the cushions, and everyone talking in Russian, a language Rock found quite pretty. He loved the smell of coffee, too, and he couldn't help thinking that he'd experienced more human culture in the past thirty minutes than he had in his entire lifetime.

Alexei stood, and took the coffee cups to give back to the bar, nudging Rock's ankles with his boots as he did so. Rock smiled at him, both because he wanted to, and because he'd long since fallen into that pattern of smiling a lot during trans-lingual conversations so that the other person can be assured you're not insulting them. But Alexei… he really was rather good-looking. And hey, they'd just been on a date and everything. Maybe if he played his cards right, he'd be able to get a little something out of this. After all, he still had more than seven hours left. Rock fiddled self-consciously with his unruly blonde hair while Alexei plopped back down. They looked at each other for a long moment, not sure what to do now. Alexei had that look in his eyes again, that same look he'd had right before asking Rock to come get coffee with him. He slowly slid his hand across the table, grabbed the napkin between two fingers, and slowly pulled it back to him. He started writing, not breaking eye contact the entire time, and keeping his very slight smirk. Rock sighed, and hoped he wasn't noticeably disappointed- they were going to try to _talk _some more? Alexei held up what he'd written, cramped in the corner of the well-loved piece of paper-cloth.

_My apartment is up from here. Come?_

Rock understood none of it, and he just shrugged pathetically, like usual. Alexei rolled his eyes and tried again, circling the simpler message and pointing to it emphatically.

_**SEX?**_

Rock burst out laughing. The hopeful-but-trying-to-stay-chill expression on Alexei's face was just too ridiculous to try not to. Since he'd been completely silent the entire time he'd been in the tiny coffee shop, the sudden, raucous noise caused quite a few customers to turn and glare at them. Well, the bitchy Russians could shove it. For this afternoon, Rock Mann was going to get laid by a beautiful almost-stranger.

"Ja_wohl_," he grinned.

Minutes later, Rock was being lifted and slammed against a door while Alexei fumbled for his keys. Rock kissed him frantically, digging his fingers into the thick red hair and tugging him closer, ignoring the tiny squeak of pain. Alexei had a tongue piercing. Hot.

Finally the door clicked open and the two boys tumbled into the kitchen of a small and filthy studio apartment. Books and maps were piled everywhere, a good deal of them tour guides, most of them well-worn, and all for what he recognized to be Belarus.

"Weiβrussland?" he asked curiously. Alexei apparently interpreted what he'd said to be some kind of German sexy-talk, and grinned as he pushed Rock towards the unmade bed tucked under the apartment's single window, roughly pulling Rock's shirt off. Unfortunately for both of them, underneath his street clothes, Rock was still wearing the full-body armor from his mission earlier that day. Alexei tipped his head back and groaned miserably, and the gesture was so cute that Rock decided right then and there that he wasn't going to help him at all. Besides… while this had seemed like a great idea downstairs, the closer he got to the actual bed and what he'd signed himself up for, Rock was beginning to get a little nervous.

He wasn't a virgin, no, not by a long shot… he'd had loads more sex than probably any other boy his age in the whole country of Germany. The problem was that it was always with prostitutes- women hired by the Institute as part of his, ah, training. He'd never had sex without being filmed and graded for it. On the other hand, he'd gotten very good at faking orgasms. Like hell he was going to put those women through that; like hell he was going to let those pervy scientists watch him get off over and over.

"Rock? You ok?" Alexei mumbled into his hair. Rock checked his body and saw that Alexei had successfully unfastened only three clasps on his armor suit in the time he'd been lost in thought. He smiled, and ran his fingers up under his lover's shirt, fingering his smooth abs. While Alexei continued undoing his armor one piece at a time, Rock wrapped his lips around one of Alexei's nipples, sucking on it gently through his tight cotton t-shirt. He'd never fooled around with another man before- the Institute would of course not condone _that _sort of thing, eye roll- but based on the noises Alexei was making, men's and women's bodies were roughly analogous. He supposed he'd be ok, then. He knew better than to show it, but he was getting some serious performance anxiety- how would someone who wasn't being paid react to him?

Alexei let out a relieved whistle of triumph as he peeled off the last pieces of armor on Rock's chest and thighs, at long last stripping him down to his little black boxer briefs. Rock suddenly felt very skinny and naked. Better to take charge, get Alexei into the same position. He slipped his hands all the way up the taller man's chest, encouraging him to yank off his own t-shirt, and then moved down to the pants.

Rock tumbled back onto the bed with a tiny shout, and Axel climbed on top of him, gently pinning him in place. Alexei was hot- really hot- not just in the metaphoric sense, but the literal sense, too. Sweat was pouring off Rock's body and sticking him to the sheets, enhancing the sex smell that was threatening to overpower him. He vaguely remembered Alexei carrying him, all those months ago, hoisting him up and running him through a tunnel full of fire. Alexei ran his tongue piercing over his neck, and ground against his crotch, evoking a breathy moan of pleasure.

From there on out, Rock wasn't quite sure what happened. His body was soaring, the heat was seeping into his eyes and mouth and ears. Alexei was underneath him, lying on his back, arched up, hands pushed behind his head and clutching his headboard, legs wrapped around Rock's shoulders. Rock's fingernails were digging into Alexei's elbows, his face buried in his chest, pushing as hard as he could. Alexei gasped something in Russian, fumbled for Rock's hand, and pushed it towards his own crotch- Rock got the message loud and clear, and grabbed onto Alexei's desperate cock, jacking it roughly In a rhythm not quite the same as his thrusts', but Alexei didn't seem to mind. White shadows were crowding the edges of Rock's eyes, and the floating sensation was getting worse, or was it better? Alexei was finishing- something hot and wet splashed against Rock's abdomen- this was it- he closed his eyes-!

Rock came so hard he fell off the bed. After he came, he tried to pull out and lie down but instead he just fell over. Alexei was too winded to help him, so Rock decided to just lay there, enjoying the cool floor while the sweat dried and his breathing returned to normal. He finally grabbed the sheets weakly and pulled himself back up, smiling at Alexei, who looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. Without bothering to try to ask if it was ok, Rock clambered back onto the bed and draped one arm loosely around Alexei's middle. Alexei didn't try to stop him.

"Ich mag dich," Rock murmured sleepily. His lover grunted inarticulately in response. The two boys fell asleep like that, tangled up in sweaty sheets, enjoying the sounds of the street traffic down below.

Hours later, Rock awoke. His head was fogged, and his body was surprisingly loose and relaxed- he wasn't quite sure where he was. Then he saw Alexei, and remembered everything. Including the fact that he was supposed to be extracted from Moscow sometime this very evening. _Fuck._

Rock disentangled himself from Alexei and his bed, and felt around for his cell phone in the discarded clothes scattered all over the room. He finally found it, and frantically checked the time. He still had two and a half hours left, thank God. The Institute would never know. Though it sure would be hard to go back to fucking sex workers after… well, after whatever it was that had just happened. He looked over at Alexei, still snoring peacefully, and wondered if he should wake him up to say goodbye. No… no, he couldn't. After he'd reassembled his armor and street clothes (in less than half the time it had taken Alexei to get everything off), he dropped a kiss on his sleeping lover's cheek, and looked around for pen and paper. He'd just have to hope that in between all the travel books, the guy had a German-to-Russian dictionary. He glanced at the bed one last time, and sighed.

_Lieber Alexei…_

* * *

Six months later, Rock was pacing his tiny room, preparing to break out of the Institute where he'd lived his entire life. Aerith was sitting on his bed, glaring at him as he moved back and forth. He ignored her.

"You realize how little evidence you have to support your theory," she calmly asked without asking.

"Doesn't matter. I've made up my mind," Rock replied shortly.

"I know you have. I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."

"Please. They trained me better than that."

"I know." A long silence settled between them. "You realize," Aerith began again, more quietly. "You go missing, you fail, you get caught, I can't help you, and they're definitely not sending anyone after you. As soon as you walk out that door, you're on your own."

"No one would miss me," Rock said coldly. His watch beeped at him, indicating that it was time for him to leave. He shouldered his bag and walked out the door, without looking back. "Bye, Aerith."

* * *

Woo! Porntastic. A few comments:

Work on this fic stalled a little because I was working on a new multi-chapter silly crackfic called _Zexion Drew and the Smalltown Blues_, wherein Zexion Drew, full-time librarian and socially awkward resident of a podunk place called Twilight Town, takes it upon himself to 'solve a mystery,' since he has always dreamed of being a famous detective. Chapter one contains the phrase "ethnic manservant, Axel del Fuego." … You should probably go read it. ;)

Two, I'm a beta! The fic I'm betaing, "The Hunted" by 73n5Hl, got posted yesterday. It contains vampire hunters with guns. If you've made it this far in this fic, you probably like that sort of thing, sooo… go check it out! Give her some love.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: Do you like the flashback chapters? Is there a character for whom you'd especially like to see an extended flashback? In the next chapter, Leon has- wait for it-_ integrated_ flashbacks. Ooooh.


	13. Chapter 12

Ok, I totally made up all that stuff at the end of the last chapter. Sorry. Hey, look, it's Axel and Roxas! Let's see what they're up to, shall we?

* * *

Axel dragged Roxas into the shower, depositing him firmly underneath the showerhead next to him. Roxas teetered for a moment, then plopped himself down. He was too tired to stand. Axel decided a fight wouldn't be worth it- at least he was staying in the shower this time. His own shower turned on and he let the water wash the sweat off of him. He had been feeling very stressed lately, since he had to take care of Roxas. The stress was making him eat less. Maybe Zexion wasn't eating because he felt stressed? Axel made a mental note to ask Demyx about that.

Roxas splashed idly in the puddles on the floor of the shower. The other students carefully ignored him. Axel watched him out of the corner of his eye. Something was wrong with Roxas. He hadn't acted this way before. Maybe Professor Naminé would be able to-

Axel blinked. What was he thinking about? Roxas was acting funny.

The eight students pulled on their sleeping clothes, and Axel and Roxas moved towards their bunk at the end of the row. These past couple of days, Axel had gotten used to helping Roxas climb the ladder so he wouldn't fall and hurt himself. But this time, Roxas stopped after two steps, and suddenly turned around, his face full of something Axel hadn't seen there before.

"Ich mag dich," Roxas said quietly, with an honest smile that reached his eyes. _I like you. _But to Axel, the words weren't words at all- Roxas just mumbled some nonsense, smiled, and wrapped his arms around his middle. Axel cautiously hugged him back, and held him there for a long moment.

"…Roxas?" he whispered tentatively against the shorter boy's blonde hair.

"I'm Roxas," Roxas declared, and he climbed the rest of the way up to the bunk by himself. The moment was broken. Axel sighed and got into his own bed, on the bottom.

_Alexei Gorodetsky was walking home from school. Alexei Gorodetsky, the boy without a father. Well, he knew enough about how these things worked to know that he technically had to have one, but the only evidence of his involvement in the boy's creation was his wild red hair. Hair that, unfortunately, set him out as a target for basically everyone in his tiny Russian village. _

_Yes, Alexei Gorodetsky was the son of the town whore. He'd learned the word, and many other equally unsavory terms, at far too young an age. To him, she was just his mother, who loved him. To everyone else, she was something hideously wrong. _

_He walked easily, one foot in front of the other, away from the center of town and out towards the hovel where he and his mother lived. The farther he walked, the more weeds sprang up, and the streets turned to dust. His own home was at the very end of the very last street. Unfortunately, today he wasn't ever going to make it. _

_Long before his neighborhood had even come into view, Alexei was stopped by a group of older boys. He was their very favorite victim. _

"_Leave me alone," he snapped angrily. The words were empty, as he had nothing to back them up. He was scrawny, even for a ten year old. His tormentors knew it. The leader of the group brandished a big stick at him. _

"_Make me," the kid laughed, and he swung the stick. Alexei let it hit him. He'd learned long ago that it was easier to just take it until it was over. Soon, they would get bored with sticks, and then switch to just fists. It was just a matter of patience._

_This time, however, something different happened. Alexei looked up at the bully. His eyes rested on the weapon, then reached up to make eye contact. The older boy's eyes were cruel, and Alexei's own narrowed. A spark passed between them, stirring a fire deep inside him. His blood began to boil. He felt so hot that he was shaking. A low growl built in his throat. The would-be attackers began to back off, looking at him as if he were some kind of animal. Well, maybe because that's what he was. _

_When he came to, vomit was splashing onto the ground in front of his shoes. The stench of charred flesh swirled inside his nostrils, but he refused to look at the corpses. His knees were shaking, but his hands were painfully still. His mind was in a panic. He couldn't go home after this, not now. Everyone would know what he did. Everyone, including his mother. Especially his mother. So, he did the only thing he could think of._

_He torched the entire village._

_Alexei sat on a hilltop for a long while, watching the flames ebb and fall, listening to the screams as people fled from their homes. Something deep within him was aware that his life was over, but he didn't have the energy to start over, not now. He was content to watch his old world burn. He never saw what happened to his mother. Unmoving, he sat there for hours before someone found him. Alexei allowed himself to be led away. _

* * *

Leon was in a rather foul mood. It was already past 4 A.M., so he only had a couple more hours of darkness left, and thus far, Sora was absolutely nowhere to be found. He was quite close to giving up. Sure, he spent a lot of time looking for people, but he was accustomed to getting paid hourly for it. None of this running out into the night, looking for random teenagers crap.

_And don't forget, Cloud may be missing, too, _he reminded himself. He didn't really believe it, but on the other hand, it was very unlike Cloud to miss any kind of appointment, least of all seeing his little brother for the first time in three weeks. He'd said his new apartment was close, but he hadn't given any specifics, so that helped Leon not a bit. All they could do was wait for Cloud to decide to show up. And so help him, when that happened, Leon was _not _going to be there waiting to cheerfully tell Cloud that his brother had run away and oh, would you like some blood-waffles?

He turned down an especially pathetic street and walked purposefully towards the very last place he could think to look for his missing charge: the only bar he knew would be open this late, and on a Sunday, no less. Sora didn't seem like the type to sneak out and get drunk, but hey, Leon had been surprised before. And granted, were the kid to decide to go to a bar, there were loads of other, better ones in this area- but then, with his wings, he'd want to keep a low profile, and this place was about as low profile as it could get. Plus, Leon was ass tired and the bartender here was a friend of Cloud's so he might as well just ask her if she'd seen anything and go home.

The entrance to the bar was underground; "dump" didn't even begin to describe it. The place didn't even have a sign at the entrance. The idea, supposedly, was that you couldn't find it unless you already knew where it was. Or something. In any case, Cloud's friend Tifa, an ordinary human, had started bartending there when she was 16 since it was the only place she could find that would pay decent money to a 16-year-old, and she'd worked there ever since. The inside of the bar was so smoky that Leon could hardly see his nose. Several large, mismatched tables lined one side of the galley-like room, creating a hazy labyrinth of potential projectiles where bar fights broke out near constantly. The actual bar was on the other wall, where Tifa was impressing a couple drunken bar patrons, one of whom was an Other, with some bottle tricks. Leon strode up and plopped himself unceremoniously directly in front of her.

"Hey, Leon," she grinned. The human of the two men she'd been entertaining went to pick a fight with him for interrupting, but the one who knew what he was shot him an unreadable glance and dragged his buddy away. Normally, Leon would be annoyed at the snobby Other refusing to speak with the lowly vampire, but tonight he had business to attend to, and was grateful. Leon and Tifa were left in relative peace, if you ignored the glasses being thrown in the background. Apparently someone had cheated at poker.

"What can I get for ya?" Tifa was busily putting away the bottles she'd been playing with.

"Uh, nothing. Just wondering if you'd seen Sora at all tonight?" A man only a few feet behind him yelled something incoherent and broke a leg off a chair to use as a weapon.

"You mean Cloud's brother?" Tifa shouted over the brawl that was quickly escalating at the other end of the room. How she'd made it five years at this job without losing a limb, no one would ever know. Leon glanced around for the bouncer, and saw that he was taking a nap behind the bar, at Tifa's feet. "I dunno, what does he look like?"

"Ah, yay high, brown hair…" Leon gestured aimlessly, frowning. Cloud hadn't told her about the wings? Did he really work that hard at hiding his little brother? He'd banked on Sora coming here because he knew Tifa was friends with Cloud- so much for that.

"He's younger, right? Nah, I haven't seen any kids tonight. I mean, it's a school night," she wrinkled her nose. "Hey, Bill, we've got a bar fight," she directed at the sleeping lump beneath her. He mumbled something unintelligible.

"Ok, that's cool." Leon sighed. He'd assumed Tifa would know Sora's situation and be able to help locate him. One more reminder to never make assumptions with Cloud. "Have you seen Cloud?" he asked, as an afterthought. Maybe he'd stopped by sometime in the past three weeks.

"Nope, haven't seen him in months," Tifa complained, while she dumped a cup of water on her sputtering bouncer's head. "One would think he'd come in and say hi or something, but nooo. Not Cloud!" She threw her hands up in the air. "Why, did they go somewhere together?" she asked curiously, as she gathered up a now-awake Bill and shoved him into the fray.

"Well, not exactly." He supposed he could tell her the truth, and leave out all the wings and fangs and whatnot. "Sora's been staying with me the past couple weeks because Cloud's looking for a new job and a new apartment, and Cloud was supposed to come by tonight- well, last night, I guess, Sunday- and he didn't, so then Sora flew- er, ran off," Leon finished, silently cursing himself for the near slip.

"Whoa! Drama. Sounds like a mini version of Cloud," Tifa laughed. "I'd love to meet him sometime. Cloud doesn't talk about him much." Leon couldn't help but stare at her incredulously. Bill noisily carried someone through the crowd and literally threw him out, accompanied by cheers and jeers. Cloud doesn't _talk about him much_? Sora was all Cloud _ever _talked about with Leon. Because they were both freaks, and Cloud needed someone to complain to who wouldn't be judgmental, apparently. Leon felt his heart sink.

"Yeah. I'm sure you'll meet him someday," he lied easily, and he stood up, ducking a flying piece of furniture. Bill roared like a sailor and dove into the crowd, fists flying. "Well, thanks for your help. I'm sure they'll both turn up."

"Yeah. Cloud has his own schedule. Probably runs in the family," she said sympathetically. "He'll show up once you're not even looking for him anymore, I guarantee it."

"Yeah," Leon agreed vaguely. The Cloud he knew would rather die than be late to anything. "Bye, Tifa."

"Bye Leon! Watch for blood and vomit," she said cheerfully. How little she knew that Leon had had too much of both already tonight, mixed together and coming out of his _mouth_ no less. He waved and left the sketchy bar, completely exhausted. Good to know that none of Cloud's other friends would be any help at all when it came to Sora, and that Cloud had apparently been moonlighting as a party animal. Well, at least they'd have something to talk about once he decided to stop by. That was something.

Leon dragged himself up to the church, and nearly stumbled over the teenager who was napping on his steps. He recognized the same kid who had pushed past him earlier.

"I told you we were closed," he said irritably. The boy woke up with a shout, and rolled off the steps into an overgrown shrubbery. Leon just stared as he struggled to right himself, refusing to help as the kid fell down a second and then a third time. Pathetically poor balance for an Other. Finally, he was on his feet, and blocking Leon's entrance to his house. Leon was not amused.

"We're closed," he repeated more slowly.

"Are you Squall Leonhart?"

"Only when we're open, which right now we are not."

"But you are Squall Leonhart, then?"

"Yes. I'm also tired, and _closed_."

"My name's Vaan. I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Are you stupid?" Leon asked flatly. Maybe a little blunt, but he wasn't in the mood to sugarcoat.

"Sometimes," the boy admitted. Ha! "Listen, I want to hire you."

"I charge extra for being harassed on my own doorstep."

"Fine," he said, a little too quickly. Leon's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I want you to… check up on someone for me." Oh, great. A crazy stalker. Just what Leon needed on this, the greatest of all days.

"Great. Can I get inside my own church, please?" Leon jabbed a finger upwards, where the sky was beginning to lighten. Vaan took a moment, a rather long moment, actually, but eventually, his eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh, uh, sure." Leon brushed past him into the welcome darkness. Looks like he was meant to live another day. "Sorry," Vaan added sheepishly.

"Whatever. Who's the target? Make it quick."

"An eccentric billionaire type named Seth Corvus. Sir." A _billionaire_? Leon stared at Vaan. Did this kid think he was accustomed to wrestling bodyguards? Clearly, an explanation was in order.

"Ok. I think you have me confused with someone else. You know what I usually do here?" he began slowly. "I find cats. Little old ladies with magic powers come in and say, hi, sweetie, you look just like my grandson, and oh, could you find my Sprinkles for me? And then I go out and find Sprinkles, and get paid for it. I don't do espionage, and nothing that involves billions of dollars. Sorry, kid." Leon's voiced dripped with sarcasm, and betrayed the fact that he was not actually sorry. Vaan missed it.

"He's a vampire." Vaan spoke in a loud whisper. Leon recognized the tone. It was the tone of voice someone of a particular generation would use to say something like 'she had a child out of wedlock.' As if vampirism was horrifically shameful. This kid was not doing much to get himself into Leon's good graces, but he obliviously pulled out an old photo and shoved it in Leon's face. The man pictured looked to be in his late twenties, possibly early thirties, with hair he'd dramatically dyed silver. Eccentric, indeed. Leon had never seen anyone like him before.

"What, you think we're all members of some vamp club or something?" he asked irritably. "I have no idea who that is."

"He's the primary shareholder of the Shinra Corporation. When Rufus Shinra died-" Rufus Shinra was an exceedingly well-known New York philanthropist, art collector, and the founder of the Shinra Corporation- "and he bequeathed all of his corporate holdings to his nephew, one Seth Rufus Corvus. In Other circles, he goes by Sephiroth."

"You figured all that out all on your own? Why do you need me?" Leon hoped against hope that Vaan would decide to save his money and leave him alone.

"My sister works for Shinra, and, uh, she found some stuff," Vaan answered dodgily.

"What kind of stuff?" Leon pressed.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." His head had been aching for quite a while, and the pain spiked at the terrible cliché. Was this a joke? Seriously. These damn idealistic kids needed to get off his metaphorical lawn.

"So, let me get this straight. You're a desperate underdog trying to take down a big evil corporation? Seriously, is this a prank?" He looked around, half expecting Sora to fly at him from the shadows. "Do you know Sora? And if you do, have you seen him?"

"What? Who's Sora?" The boy's face crumpled in confusion. Leon shook his head.

"Never mind. My answer's no. Please leave."

"But sir-"

"Out."

"You have to-"

"Out."

"But-"

"OUT." Leon hoisted Vaan up under his two armpits, a bit difficult since the kid was slightly taller but thankfully he didn't struggle, and he walked over to the door and dumped him outside. He then slammed the door in his face. The whole experience was very satisfying.

Hands clean of the situation, Leon turned to head upstairs and go to bed. He was stopped by a loud screeching sound- the sound of tires skidding on pavement. The howl was followed by a thump like a sack of potatoes hitting a wall, and the crack of broken glass, then a few more thumps, and finally, a sickening thud. Then some shouts. Leon ran back to the door and threw it open, and was about to step outside when he glanced at the sky. The sun could come up any moment- he couldn't risk it. So he stood in the doorway and looked out at the fiasco before him.

Wide black tire marks stretched across the street to where the car had finally come to a stop. The driver had pushed open the door and jumped out, sobbing hysterically. The car itself had a severely damaged front end and cracked windshield, along with a series of dents along the top and back where a grown human male had gone tumbling across. Said human male, Vaan, was lying sprawled on the street behind it. Leon's heart was in his throat. _Oh my God. That kid his dead and the last thing he ever did was get called stupid and thrown out of a building! By me! Holy shit-_

Vaan sat up. Leon blinked. Vaan shook his head, and stood up, dusting himself off as if he'd merely tripped. The driver paused his hysterics long enough to stare incredulously. Vaan took a long moment to get a good look at the damage that his body had done to the car, and a deep blush was spreading across his face. Leon heard him mutter an embarrassed apology, and he took off at a run. The driver kept staring until he was gone, and then burst into a new fit of miserable sobs at the poor state of his mangled car. Leon quietly closed the door, and hoped that neither of them had noticed that he was watching, as getting caught up in an court battle was not on his to-do list for the year.

_Well, that was weird. _Leon decided to skip dinner- or was it breakfast?- and go straight to bed. He could deal with the world in the evening.

* * *

Riku walked away from where Sora had found him, hands shoved in his pockets, wind ruffling his hair. He was humiliated- he'd just had a panic attack out on the street.

As he was walking, he heard footsteps behind him. He stopped. The footsteps stopped. He took a deep breath. Three guys behind him. He turned around, slowly.

"I know you're there," he said quietly, attempting to pierce the shadows with his eyes. At least it was light enough now for there to _be _shadows. "Come out now."

"Big words, wolfie," a voice sneered from behind him. A hand automatically flew up to his hood. It was down. _Shit. _

"What do you want?" he asked warily, with a strong suspicion that he knew already exactly what they wanted.

"You, gone." The largest and hairiest of the men, and the presumptive leader, took a threatening step towards him, while the rest of the group formed a circle to stop him from running away. Well, this was an interesting development. Riku hadn't been in a good brawl for a while- might as well see how this would play out. He dramatically cracked his knuckles into fists, rolling his body into a fighting position.

"Don't worry. I won't bite," he grinned, snapping his teeth for emphasis. The thug snarled and lunged. Riku dodged easily, slipping to the side and tripping his attacker with his foot. The huge man went sprawling into the side of a dumpster. Riku, 1. Burly McFists, 0.

Burly McFists recovered himself admirably, clambering upright and wiping the dirt off his face. Unfortunately, Riku was too fast for him, and smacked him back down before he could find his footing.

The rest of the gang took that point as its cue to jump him. Riku was off to the races. He couldn't see how many men were on him, so he attacked in all directions at once. His claws were coming out, both figuratively and literally; he tore into one man's abdomen as he kneed another in the groin. An arm appeared in front of his face and he sank his teeth into it wildly, not nearly hard enough to break skin, but hard enough to evoke a squeal of panic from the arm's owner. The sound sent shivers through Riku's agitated body. The animal inside of him was waking up. The lively smells of blood and sweat were driving him hog wild. He dug into his ears, eyes, and nose, and searched for his prey- the leader of this pack. He found him. With a mighty twist, he freed his powerful right arm and slugged the giant man in the face. He could feel bones breaking.

Suddenly, rough hands grabbed both his arms. He thrashed wildly, frothing at the mouth, digging his heels into someone's foot. The grips tightened. The man Riku had puncbed lurched back onto his feet, wiping blood from his pathetically crushed nose. Riku spat at his toes, and felt a painful twist in one of his arms. The man leered at him.

"You put up a good fight, little guy," he chuckled, pulling out a long knife. Riku snarled dangerously and threw all of his weight to one side, earning him no give whatsoever. The man stepped closer, carefully aiming the knife at Riku's abdomen. He pulled his arm back, and-

WHAM.

Twin trainers slammed onto the huge man's shoulders. He choked in surprise, but before he could react, the feet had neatly hopped back into the air, and with a mighty kick to the back of the head, sent him sprawling onto the ground, where he lay perfectly still. The man was unstoppable, and now he was stopped. Apparently Riku just hadn't tried _falling _on him yet. In any case, he seized the moment to yank his right arm free and elbow his captor in the face.

"Did you follow me here!?" he shouted, as he swung his fist back around to pound the other thug in the mouth, freeing his other arm and snapping out quite a few teeth.

"Nope. Heard the fighting, Thought you were Cloud," Sora answered simply, giving the fallen gang leader another kick to the gut for good measure.

"What!?" Riku stumbled onto his knees, and took a moment to catch his breath. The rest of the group had backed off, gaping at Sora, the winged monster who had just quite literally dropped from the heavens into their midst. Or possibly Riku's guardian angel.

"Is it a gargoyle!?" one of them whispered too loudly. Or possibly the stupidest thing they could come up with.

"_Gargoyle_? Never heard that one," Sora laughed lightly. He extended a hand to Riku to help him up, and this time Riku somewhat gratefully accepted. Back on his feet, he saw the last members of the gang that had attacked him running away as fast as their wounded legs could carry them, overwhelmed at the prospect of fighting _two _Others. Not content to let things go, Riku ran to shout at the backs of the retreating thugs. Neither he nor Sora noticed the man standing behind them.

"And that's the _last_ fucking time you fuck with Riku Shi-"

CRACK.

_Blood?_

Riku fell forward, and the pavement swallowed him up.

* * *

Selphie Tilmitt expertly balanced a cell phone and purse in one hand, as she allowed her feisty puggle to drag her down 5th Avenue. Normally she employed a dog walker, but the man had been sick today, so she was stuck walking Polly herself. Polly quite liked this arrangement, and was having fun yanking Selphie every which way, as if in retribution for not getting walked enough. Selphie barely noticed, since she was jabbering away on the phone.

"_Really_? Yeah, I saw her recently, she looked _terrible- _oh, Polly, not on the flowers! Bad girl," she admonished, tugging on the leash. Polly trotted over to the gutter and peed there instead. "Hey, listen, I've got to go, just got back. Gimme a call later, ok? Bye, honey!" Selphie flipped her phone shut and dragged Polly into the building, giving the doorman an insincere wave. He didn't even look up. She pushed the button to call the elevator and stuffed her phone back into her tiny purse. The light dinged, the elevator opened, and she trotted inside, pushing 17 and waiting for the doors to close. She was stopped by a silky voice.

"Hold the elevator, please." Selphie popped her gum in her mouth and leaned on the Open Door button. The man slid into the elevator, and the gum stuck in her mouth.

He was… well, breathtaking wasn't exactly the right word. He was tall, very tall, and clad in a very expensive fitted suit. Selphie was quite familiar with money, and this man might as well have been wrapped in it. His immaculate hair was dyed silver, but Selphie didn't think it was weird. On him, it was just… _cool. _The strange man offered her a frosty smile, and hit a button Selphie had never seen pressed- PH, for _Pent House._

"Did you just move here?" When she found her voice, it was a little too high-pitched, and rather squeaky. She cleared her throat, and artificially deepened her vocals. "I mean, I haven't seen you here before." Polly ventured out to sniff at the man's pants, whimpered pathetically, and hid behind Selphie's legs.

"No, I've lived in this building for a while. I guess we've just missed each other," he said smoothly. The charisma was intoxicating. If this man told Selphie to drill a hole in the elevator floor and free-fall to the bottom, she would have done it, no questions asked. She was enthralled.

"What's your name?" she asked breathlessly.

"Seth. Seth Corvus."

* * *

ZOMG IT'S SEPHIROTH. Woo. This chapter was hard to write. There's a lot going on... probably way too much, lol! And I had to bring in Vaan- having Penelo by herself felt wrong, and Vaan and Kytes just fit well into the plot. No more FF12 characters will be showing up, no worries. With the addition of Vaan, all of the characters of import have been introduced. Go, story, go!

In any case, next chapter leaps forward a week or so, to when CLOUD WAKES UP. For real, no tricks this time, Cloud's going to wake up. He's been unconscious since what, chapter 8? 9?

Please, please review! Reviews make me happy.


	14. Chapter 13

Cloud pulled out his footstool and climbed up to the top cabinet. He was rather embarrassed to admit that at 15, he hadn't reached his growth spurt yet. In any case, they kept all the medicines hidden above the refrigerator so that Sora wouldn't be able to find or reach them, since he liked to dump all the chemicals in the house in the toilet and then flush to see everything mix together. Yes, Sora was a funny little kid.

His parents' bedroom was on the second floor. Cloud balanced the pills and two glasses of water, and gently knocked on the door. No answer- they must be asleep. He eased the door open, and deposited the medicine on the bedside table. His mother and father weren't able to sleep much these days, so he didn't want to wake them up. Having accomplished his mission, Cloud tip-toed back to the door, overly prideful of his powers of stealth. He was quietly shutting the door when all hell broke loose.

"Cloud! Cloud! Mom! Somebody!" The tiny shriek was coming from the bathroom at the end of the hall. Thank God the door was closed, or it would have carried through the entire house. Cloud rolled his eyes and went to rescue his brother. Honestly, why did he always have to be the responsible one?

"Sora, shut up. Mom and Dad are sleeping." Ok, maybe 'responsible' wasn't the right word.

"Cloud!" Sora's voice dropped to a whisper, and he cracked the door open, just enough to show his face, his eyes wide and panicky. "Cloud, I need to show you something."

"If your poop is purple again, I told you, it was the blueberries. And if it's anything else, you know where the plunger is." Cloud rolled his eyes and turned down the hall to go to his room. Sora whimpered urgently, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Since he still refused to come out of the bathroom, Cloud ignored him and went into his room, shutting the door and flopping down on his bed with a magazine. Unfortunately, as per the curse of having a baby brother, within moments Sora was tapping insistently on his door.

"Clo-oud! It's not the toilet, it's important!" he hissed through the wood. Cloud ignored him. He counted to ten in his mind, and on eight, Sora opened the door and barged in. You couldn't keep that boy out of anything. Sora was dripping wet, an oversized towel clutched loosely around his scrawny, adolescent waist. Ok, so it was a problem with the shower, not the toilet. Either way, Cloud was going to have to fix it.

"Ok, fine. What is it."

"Well, I was in the shower," Sora began hurriedly, and Cloud settled himself in for a stupidly long story. Once Sora got the floor, nothing could stop him. "I was soaping myself up- that new soap you bought, you know, it smells kind of funny, I don't know why you bought it- but anyway, I was scrubbing and all of a sudden my back started itching! It itched really bad and I started scratching it and Cloud, please listen!" Sora huffed. Cloud snapped back to the present. "I was scratching my back and I reached back and touched it and- and something happened," Sora finished, actually looking nervous, and shifting back and forth from foot to foot.

"What happened?" Cloud asked tiredly. When Sora was feeling guilty, he'd get out 90% of the confession, and then you'd have to drag him the rest of the way. It was an elaborate dance that Cloud and both of his parents had been through too many times to count.

"Well, I, uh."

"Sora," Cloud said dangerously. Sora sighed.

"Well, I mean, uh. Well, just look!" Sora squeezed his eyes shut, clutched his towel, and whirled around. Cloud was unable to hide his sharp intake of breath. He'd been expecting a bad backne outbreak, possibly a rash, at worst some kind of groty skin fungus or parasite. He had not in his most wild of expectations imagined he'd be seeing feathers.

"Sora, if this is a joke, it's brutally not funny," he said quietly. Bile was rising in his throat.

"It's not! Cloud!" Sora turned around again, tears threatening the corners of his eyes. Cloud felt as if he was seeing his brother, really seeing his brother, for the very first time. He was small, and painfully thin- his bottom ribs were still showing. His eyes were almost comically large in proportion to the rest of his face. This was Sora- dorky kid brother thinks-toiletries-go-in-a-toilet Sora. Sora, who was growing feathers on his back. Did that mean he was going to have wings? Or were the feathers just going to keep growing out of control? Cloud tried to imagine his baby brother covered in feathers, and he could feel tears burning at the back of his own eyes, too.

"Sora…" he began, and choked. He couldn't think of anything to say. Sora wordlessly sat down at the edge of the bed, giving Cloud a profile view of his budding appendages, which from the side were quite obviously wings. My brother is growing wings. Cloud was in complete shock, and leaning towards disbelief. This sort of thing happened to other people. Not the Strifes, not here, not now. He leaned forward and gently tugged a stray feather, releasing it quickly when Sora winced in genuine pain. So much for denial. After a few long moments, Cloud found his voice.

"Don't tell Mom and Dad," he said. Sora looked up, a tear sliding down his cheek. "Not yet," he added quickly, and insincerely, as he had no intention of telling his parents about this at all. "We need to find out for sure what we're dealing with." He took a deep breath. He was Cloud. The Responsible One. Their parents were sick, so solving the wing problem fell on his shoulders. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about people who grew wings. He did, however, have one friend who might. "Let's go see Squall."

"What? Your best friend?" Sora sniffled. His nose was running, which meant he wanted to cry and was holding it in. Cloud's heart ached. He was torn between giving his brother a hug and pulling out a saw and hacking the offending growths off. He supposed that with some effort they could pluck the feathers out, but how much would that hurt Sora, and how long would it take them to grow back? In any case, the top priority was hiding Sora's problem. Squall might be able to help them with that.

"Yeah. We'll go after dinner, ok? Just… relax, squirt." Cloud ruffled Sora's messy hair. Instead of fighting back like he usually did, Sora just smiled weakly through his tears.

* * *

Back in the present, Cloud was tossing and turning in a bed that wasn't his own.

* * *

Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart met when they were both five years old. Late one evening, Mrs. Strife and her two boys were walking through downtown in their New Jersey suburb, when Cloud saw a playground and decided he felt like playing. Before his poor mother could do anything about it, Cloud had taken off at a run, rushing to the nearest swing set and climbing up onto it on his feet.

"Oh, Cloud, honey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself," Mrs. Strife said tiredly, bouncing baby Sora, who was giggling and trying to grab her hair. Cloud plopped down onto the swing seat the proper way and started kicking his legs in a rather pathetic attempt to pump. His mom took pity on him and gave him a little push to get him started. Cloud whooped with glee, still flailing his legs. While he was swinging, his eyes caught another boy on the other side of the playground, sitting alone in a sandbox. He glanced over at his mother, who had put Sora down in the grass and was encouraging him to try to walk. Since she wasn't watching him, Cloud hopped down and trotted over to the other kid, who didn't seem to have any adults watching him, either. At least, no one was in sight.

The boy looked to be about Cloud's own age, with dark, wildly unkempt hair. His clothes were clean, but covered in discolored spots from old stains. He was sitting cross-legged in the sandbox, working painstakingly slowly on a large, elaborate sandcastle. His eyes were narrowed in concentration, an expression that made him look much older than he actually was. Cloud had never met anyone quite like him, so he sat down nearby, content to quietly observe. After a few long minutes, the boy looked up and noticed Cloud. His eyes widened slightly, almost in fear.

"Hi," said Cloud shyly, as his mother had taught him. "I like your castle." The other boy stared at him, as if this had never happened before and he didn't know what to do. Later on, Cloud would learn that it really had never happened to him before and that he really hadn't known what to do.

"Hi," the strange kid finally said, slowly, in return. Cloud took that as an invitation, and he hopped right into the sandbox and began digging a moat.

"My name's Cloud," he said happily, without looking at his new friend, since he was busy shifting sand at a rather impressive rate, and already planning for the mountains he could build later.

"My name's Squall," Squall answered, gradually getting the hang of the whole conversation thing. Assured that Cloud wasn't going to destroy his creation, he went back to sticking embellishments on one of the towers. The two boys worked in content silence for what felt to them like quite a while, as if they'd been building a sandcastle together for forever. Cloud didn't notice his mother trying to get his attention.

"Squall." Both boys looked up, but Cloud's breath hitched in his throat.

A woman had appeared almost out of nowhere, and addressed his new friend by name. She was tall and lanky, almost emaciated looking, with pallid skin and coarse brown hair. Her body was wrapped in a loose dress and multiple shawls, giving her a drifty and otherworldly appearance. Cloud felt the air around him get colder, and he shivered. The woman was looking directly at him, her eyes at once wide and narrow, her gaze so intense as to be almost predatory.

"Hi, mom," Squall said cheerfully, or as cheerfully as Cloud had heard him, and he scooted aside so that his mother could see the castle he built. She smiled faintly in approval.

"Who is your new friend?" she asked softly, her flat eyes still resting on Cloud's own vibrant blue. He wanted to look away, but found that he couldn't. His insides twisted up.

"Cloud! Cloud. Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, I hope he wasn't bothering… you." Cloud's mom trailed off as she tugged on her older son's hand, the motion abruptly switching from gentle to urgent. Squall's mother glanced up. Sora hiccupped and began to cry.

"It's fine. We were just leaving, weren't we, Squall." Squall obediently stood up and stepped out of the sandbox. Cloud felt his own mom's arm wrap around his shoulders and tightly hold him close. Squall and his mother painted a rather exotic picture for the New Jersey town, and Cloud found himself staring again.

"Cloud, what do you say," his mom reminded him in a hushed voice, her grin completely forced.

"Nice to meet you," he said automatically. The dark woman smiled at him, revealing a set of glistening white teeth, and led her son out of the park. Cloud watched until they faded away.

* * *

Squall's apartment was a good distance from where Cloud and Sora lived, and it was dark out, so Cloud had decided it would be better to take their bikes. His eyes kept worrying Sora's upper back, despite the fact that they'd covered him with a t-shirt, a sweater, and a jacket. Absolutely nothing was visible, but knowing that the wings were there, Cloud couldn't help that everyone who saw them would see straight through his brother's haphazard disguise and know what he was. To get his mind off things, he rode his bike faster, and soon left Sora behind.

"Cloud! Wait up," Sora panted, pushing as hard as he could go. Cloud instantly stopped his bike. He couldn't leave Sora on his own- someone would see what he was and grab him, or Cloud for trying to hide it. Apparently not burdened by such worries, Sora zipped by. Cloud swore and started pedaling again.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. And if you heard what I said don't ever say it in front of Mom."

"Ok." In about 15 minutes, they arrived at a run-down apartment building just outside of downtown. The structure was even more intimidating in the dark. Cloud chained his and Sora's bikes to a nearby fence, walked up, and rang the doorbell for the Leonhart residence, which happened to be a basement unit. Sora was uncharacteristically quiet- he apparently felt that they had arrived in the 'bad part of town.' As if their suburb in Jersey could possibly have a 'bad part of town.' Cloud had stopped bothering to be afraid of the dark when Squall had pointed out that he himself was the most frightening thing that anyone in town could possibly run into.

"Hello?" Oh, thank God, Squall picked up. He would never tell his best friend of course, but Squall's mom kinda gave Cloud the creeps. Squall, however, to Cloud's surprise and chagrin, was a total mama's boy, so Cloud kept his mouth shut on the subject.

"Hey, Squall. It's me. I have Sora with me, too- we've sorta got a problem," Cloud muttered into the receiver.

"I don't even want to know what that means. I'll be right out." Squall had a habit of casually contradicting himself.

"Yeah. See ya." Sora was shifting his weight from foot to foot again. Cloud couldn't help but imagine the tiny wings twitching anxiously. He pushed the thought out of his mind- maybe if he pretended Sora was ok, he would be. Fake it 'til your brother makes it. A door on the side of the building opened up, and Squall stepped out, an awkward and disproportioned teenager with spots of acne, ill-fitting clothes, and of course chronically messy hair.

"Ok, what- whoa." His eyes widened and he stared at Sora. Sora mirrored the expression. The two stared at each other for a long moment, and the tension in the air was electric. Cloud couldn't help but feel a little left out.

"What is it? What's going on?" No one answered. "Sora's growing feathers," he explained irritably. He was here to get help for their problem, not because he wanted his little brother and his best friend to have a bonding experience.

"What are you?" Sora whispered, as if Cloud hadn't spoken at all.

"Vampire," Squall answered darkly. Sora squeaked and took a step back. Squall's eyes narrowed. "Oh, please. Like you're the very picture of normalcy." All things considered, Cloud had to respect that Sora at least hadn't freaked out the way _he_ had when he'd found out about Squall and his mother.

"What's going on?" Cloud repeated, swinging the conversation back towards himself. "Look, Sora's growing feathers and I don't know what to do about it so if you could please-"

"You can't do anything about it," Squall murmured, addressing Cloud for the first time. "He's an Other. There's nothing anyone can do to change that." His eyes flickered back over to Sora. "Sorry, kid." Sora opened his mouth to speak, and Cloud cut him off.

"Yes, ok. If that's true, what does that mean? Is my kid brother going to sprout feathers all over his body?" Sora winced. "What am I supposed to tell Mom and Dad?"

"_Sora_ can tell your parents anything he wants to." Cloud managed to miss Squall's unsubtle tip, and kept right on going.

"And besides, there's no way he can be an _Other._" Cloud said the word as if it meant something very dirty. "I mean, I'm not, and our parents aren't-"

"How would you know?" Squall asked, eyebrow raised.

"I- uh." Really, how would he? "I just do." Well, he was pretty sure _he _was normal, in any case.

"They're not," Sora affirmed quietly.

"Yeah, see?" Cloud finished, looking back and forth between his brother and his best friend. Neither was meeting his eyes. Sora was staring at the ground, a blank expression on his face, and Squall was considering Sora, his lips curved downwards into a slight frown. Cloud felt invisible. He couldn't even begin to fathom how unimportant he was at that moment. "Guys…"

"It's true." Sora whispered without looking up.

"What?"

"It's true." Sora slowly lifted his face. His eyes were full of a painful mix of fear and sadness. Cloud looked at him- Sora was so small. Why him? Of all the people in the world, why did Cloud's own kid brother have to be struck down by a lifetime of freak-hood? At least it could be hidden, but how long would that last?

"Sora… it's ok. We can hide it," Cloud said urgently. Panic leaped around inside of him, and he struggled to fight it down. Really, what _would_ he tell his parents? Sora didn't answer- he didn't even fidget. He just stood.

"Cloud, I think I want to go home now," he finally said, barely audible. Squall stood to the side, hovering between speaking and not.

"You gonna be ok?" he asked awkwardly. Cloud wasn't sure, but it seemed that Squall was talking to him and not Sora. His brother apparently felt the same way.

"If you want to stay, I'll just go," he said miserably, turning to walk over towards his bike.

"NO!" Cloud shouted, a little too quickly. Sora's face fell, and Cloud felt like a jerk. "Uh, no," he repeated, more calmly. "I'll come home with you." He turned back to Squall, who was still looking vaguely lost. "Thanks, buddy… sorry to pull you out… call you later?"

"Ok." Squall turned to go back inside before remembering. "Bye, guys."

* * *

Cloud woke up. Seven days had passed since he'd first fallen asleep, but he had no way of knowing that. As it was, it took him several long moments to figure out what he was doing naked and in someone else's bed. The colors in this place were bright, painfully so, and Cloud closed his eyes again to block them out. His head and body ached. He opened his eyes again, more carefully this time, and found himself able to adjust. With a good deal of effort, he sat up, and located his clothes, which were neatly folded on a chair in the corner of the room. On top of the stack was a note. Cloud picked it up and read it.

_Good morning. There's blood in the chili if you're hungry. -S_

Well, at least he'd had sex with someone considerate. After tugging his clothes on, he took a deep breath, searching the place with his nose. There was indeed chili with blood in it somewhere in this apartment. He semi-consciously followed the scent into the kitchen- he hadn't realized before just how hungry he really was. The trail ended at a pot on the stove. Cloud sniffed at it curiously, nudging the lid open and then quickly closing it again. The stench of week-old congealed blood and stale beans and meat was completely overpowering. Somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, Cloud was freaking out- _holy fuck, I __**ate**__ that chili. _In the present moment, he was too hungry to care. He knocked the lid off the pot and sunk one hand into the goo, using the other to plug his nose. With a quick motion, he shoved the stuff into his mouth and swallowed it, without even attempting to chew, lest the taste get stuck in his teeth and on his tongue. The food, if you could call it that, settled rather roughly, but as soon as it was inside him, Cloud could feel the warmth spreading out into his limbs, bringing his strength back. After that, the muck went down smooth.

As soon as he was done eating, Cloud attempted to take stock of his surroundings. The apartment had a couple windows- he went over to the closest one. Something in his gut gurgled unpleasantly, and he ignored it. He still didn't know where he was, or what he was doing here- apparently he'd had sex with someone named 'S,' but that was all he had so far. His last memories were of going to work.

He reached out to open up the blinds on the window, and hissed angrily when a sneaky beam of natural light burned his skin. Wait. _That's not supposed to happen. _He stared stupidly at the smoke rising off of his sizzling fingers. As he was watching, the hand lifted up and gently fingered his neck. Two large welts were forming on one side, almost certainly preparing to leave scars. A sharp pain flashed through his mind, and he tore his hand away. No. _No no no no no!_

The chorus of no's continued racing through Cloud's aching head as he sprinted into the bathroom to see if his fears were correct. If he really did have bite marks on his neck. The memories were drifting back now, slowly and fuzzily, but they were there, and the fear was building into a panic. His breakfast sloshed around inside of him, spurning a violent attack of nausea and dizziness. He grabbed onto the vanity and looked into the mirror.

No reflection looked back out at him.

Cloud threw up. As it turned out, the ancient chili was even more disgusting the second time around. So he threw up again. Fully emptying himself took about five minutes, after which he collapsed, letting instinct take over. Instinct told him to get away from the rancid vomit, so he obediently dragged himself out of the bathroom, feebly kicking the door shut. He then lay sprawled on the cold tile floor, too weak and tired to bother to move.

This was it. His life was over. He'd thought he was dying, but this was worse, by a million times. Before he could stop them, tears began pouring out of hs eyes, and he succumbed to hysterical, choking sobs, holding himself and rocking slowly. Eventually, miserable, exhausted, and starving, Cloud drifted back into unconsciousness.

_Sorry, Sora._

_

* * *

_

Poor Cloud is a mess. Also, people puke a lot in this fic. In my first multiple-chapter fic (the wildly porny Time To Wake Up) folks were passing out all the time, and now it's puking. Weird. Apologies for this chapter's being a little shorter than most- there's really no way for me to toss a non-Cloud POV in here, so I left it as is. But hey, we got to meet Leon's mama!

My laptop died spectacularly this weekend, so another update might be a long time coming. I'd luckily already written this chap and sent it to my beta so I had it saved in my e-mail, and who knows when I'll get another chance to post it, so I figured I might as well do it now, lol.

Tune into the next chapter, wherein Roxas will bop Zexion with a struggle bat and try to frame Demyx, Axel will say 'pesky moose and squirrel,' Riku will take a remedial course in Not Turning Your Back On Crazy People, Sora will turn out to actually be a gargoyle, Kairi will get drunk and try to hit on the POEM, and Leon and Bill will arm wrestle over the great glory of who gets to tap dance on Tifa's bar.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY, WITH WHICH TO KEEP REVIEWS SPICY WHILE I GET MY COMPUTER FIXED:

1. Because I'm curious if there's a correct pronunciation- how do y'all pronounce Leonhart? In my head I say LAY-on-art.

2. There are a shit ton of familial relationships in this fic! So far we've got Cloud-Sora and Penelo-Vaan, and of course everyone's dead parents, lol. Anyone want to guess as to some of the others? ;)


	15. Chapter 14

My laptop is back in action! Here's an extra-long chapter. Have fun, y'all. ;)

* * *

When Riku woke up, he couldn't feel anything all along his left side. The numbness was quickly replaced by a sharp and throbbing pain, originating near his shoulder and pulsing out to his extremities. He tried to move his head to see where he was, but stopped the attempt when he realized how much it hurt. Fortunately, someone was nearby to let him know for him.

"Riku! You're awake! Are you ok? How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?" Sora was next to him all of a sudden- he really did move rather quickly. His wings were dropped behind him, as if that would make his presence less unsettling. Actually, it was kind of working.

"I feel… like I got shot," he said, his voice surprisingly raspy and quiet. He didn't really feel like much of anything, but he was too weak to come up with something better to say. His entire body was floating.

"You did get shot," Sora said blunty. Shit. Riku realized that he did indeed have bandages encasing his left shoulder, and the heavy smells of sickness, antiseptic, gunpowder, and vampire were clogging up his nose. How could he not remember getting _shot_?

"I was aiming for hyperbole."

"Well, you missed," Sora said cheerfully. Riku was almost disturbed by how easily he wore sarcasm, without losing even a tiny bit of his happy demeanor. That must have taken years of practice. Speaking of time…

"What day is it?"

"Sunday." Oh, same day, then. Wait. Riku had been out walking very early Monday morning. That would mean he had been unconscious for an entire week.

"I've been out for a week?" he asked incredulously. Or, it would have been incredulous, if his voice had come out as more than a whisper.

"Yeah, you've been sleeping here in the church. Leon was pissed at having to give up his bed-" that explained the vampire smell- "but he didn't want to be indirectly responsible for the death of a teenager so it was ok, but he still might be mad at you for a few days… just ignore him. He patched you up."

"Thanks, Leon," Riku said stupidly, towards no one in particular. He didn't really want to think about owing some surly vampire his life. "How did I get back here?"

"I carried you," Sora said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The thought of Sora flying his unconscious, bleeding body across town to save his life made him feel… odd. Sora became concerned. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Except for the hole in my chest, I'm peachy." Riku tried to smile, but the muscles didn't quite cooperate, and his friendly gesture turned into a coughing fit. The pain was unbearable. Sora gently held his hand to calm him down- the gesture was completely organic and natural, not to mention effective. Riku settled back down onto his pillows.

"Why did those guys attack you?" Sora asked, releasing his hand and pulling over a chair. The way he had to position his wings to be able to sit down was kind of funny, but Riku knew better than to laugh at him. He'd save that for when he could run away again- he'd seen what the kid could do to someone twice his size.

"People always think they can pick off the skinny foreign kid," Riku explained neutrally, wanting to shrug but knowing better than to try. "I'm pretty used to it. Never been _shot_, though…" This was true. Usually when people went on their kill-the-werewolf sprees, they came after him with torches and pitchforks and Swiss army knives and whatnot, as if they were afraid that conventional weapons wouldn't work, or something.

"I'm sorry," Sora said softly, and for the first time in his life, Riku could tell that someone was sorry for his situation and actually meant it.

"You ever find your brother?" he asked quickly, blushing slightly and directing the conversation away from himself.

"No! It's been an entire week and he hasn't shown up- Leon looked for him, too. I'm beginning to worry something's happened to him," Sora fretted, and true to form, the wings jumped into action and snapped open in worry.

"Maybe he got captured with Démé Desmarais," Riku attempted to joke. Sora was not amused. The wings immediately dropped back down, very much like an angry cat laying its ears back.

"That's not funny," he said angrily. A long and uncomfortable silence settled between the two boys. Riku finally couldn't stand it anymore, and decided to break it.

"Thanks."

"What for?"

"Rescuing me. Again," he said softly, and this time managed to get out a hint of a smile without breaking down. Now it was Sora's turn to blush awkwardly.

"Oh… no problem." Sora was perfectly still, but his feathers twitched wildly. Riku still couldn't believe that this kid had leaped headlong into an armed street fight. "You're… probably hungry, right? Do you need to eat? I'm going to get you some food. Don't go back to sleep!" Sora hopped up and directly into the air with a single beat of his wings, eager to find something to do.

"Water would be nice, too," Riku suggested hopefully.

"Ok! Food and drink, coming right up!" Sora whirled around in midair and dramatically swooped out of the room. During his spin, a single long feather shed itself from his wing and fluttered gracefully down onto Riku's chest. With difficulty, he brought his hand around and picked it up to examine it more closely. The feather was soft, softer than he expected, and light shone through parts of it, giving it a pearly and translucent look. He decided to keep it, and tucked it underneath the covers, making a mental note to hide it properly later.

Riku must have dozed off, because some time had evidently passed before Sora came back, laden with cups and pitchers and utensils and a tray and a huge bowl of pasta, all of which he somehow balanced perfectly. Maybe it was the two extra limbs.

"Ok- so, we don't have that much food here 'cause it's just me, but I made some noodles, and here's some water and orange juice- citrus is good for you! Oh, and I brought this for you to eat off of so you won't have to get out of bed. Leon says hi." Sora helped Riku up into a sitting position- painful, but workable once he got there- and set up the tray on his lap.

"Hey, thanks." Riku dug into the food happily. Thankfully, he was right handed, so his useless left side wasn't much of a hindrance. Sora sat back in his chair and watched Riku eat with an unnatural amount of interest. At first it didn't bother him, but after about five minutes, he slowly set his fork down. "You really need to watch me like that?"

"Oh! Sorry. Oh, I'm sorry." Sora's face exploded into a blush and his wings fluffed up, the way they did. Riku smiled.

"Hey, it's cool." He finished his pasta quietly, and was amazed at how much better he felt after eating and drinking. He really _had _been unconscious for a week. Barely over a month in the US, and he'd already gone on a wolf rampage and been shot in the back. Clearly, he was doing something wrong. Riku hated to ask for help, but… "Listen. I… I need to ask you a favor."

"Spit it out!" Sora said excitedly, as if he hadn't done Riku enough favors already.

"I need you to help me look for, you know, who I'm looking for." Riku said quietly. Sora had made the offer already, and besides, he loved this stuff, so he couldn't have given up on it.

"Really?" As Riku expected, Sora seemed completely thrilled. The wings jumped up and shook with energy.

"Yeah. I can't do it by myself. I mean, I just got shot."

"Yeah… you did just get shot," he agreed with a smile, not a happy or silly smile, but that smile of understanding, and _hey, it's going to be ok. _Riku thought he might never tire of having Sora smile at him. Unfortunately, the winged boy quickly turned to business. "Do you even have anything to start off of?"

"Actually, yes." He did have some sort of lead, but he was kind of embarrassed to admit what it was. Well, might as well just say it. "Some creepy kid who lives in a gutter told me I was close to what I was looking for- I figure we'll start there."

"Um." For once, Sora had nothing to say. Riku got the impression that that didn't happen very often.

"No, seriously- I know it sounds really weird, but he can read minds," he said desperately. Kytes seemed reasonably trustworthy. He may not actually know anything, but it couldn't _hurt _to talk to him, either, right?

"I'm just letting you know that you sound like a crazy person, and I'm only going along with you because I desperately need a hobby," Sora said solemnly. Feeling better, Riku grinned.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

"So, I'm seeing a sharp increase in the frequency and length of REM cycles over the past couple weeks, especially in Zexion but also in some of the others… do you think that means they're experiencing dreams? Kairi?" Kairi and Penelo were alone in the lab today, and scouring pages upon pages of data for mistakes and abnormalities. They usually didn't work together like this and unfortunately for her partner, Kairi was not particularly focused on her job.

_Naminé, Baminé, banana fanna fo Faminé, me mi mo Maminé, Naminé!_

"Kairi, are you listening to me?" Penelo said irritably, snapping her fingers in front of Kairi's glazed eyes. Suddenly, Naminé popped up on the screen directly in front of them.

"Hello, Kairi," Naminé said in a friendly tone. Penelo yelped in surprise.

"What? Oh, uh, hi, Naminé." Kairi smiled to herself- her real-life assistant always was nervous around her computer assistant. Maybe because they kind of looked alike? Hmm- a theory for later. In any case, this was much faster than whatever crap Penelo was planning on doing.

"Nam, Penelo wants to know if the Nobodies are dreaming," she asked boredly.

"Can't you just talk to me directly?" Penelo snapped.

"I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary," Naminé began, in her quiet and trustworthy Naminé tone. She really was a master at lying and hedging the truth. Kairi had been a bad influence, then. But since Penelo had most definitely figured out that they were withholding information, might as well let her into the circle a little bit to gain her trust.

_You can tell her the truth, Nam. _

"Besides the dreams Subject 6 has been having, of course. Subject 9 may or may not have also experienced a dream," she finished, almost becoming flustered. No one could possibly notice that Naminé was flustered- the difference was so tiny as to be negligible. But Kairi saw, and she grinned.

_Well done._

"What!? When did that happen!?" Penelo was now frantically digging through the mountain of paperwork, looking for dates and patterns. Kairi swiveled lazily in her chair.

"I cannot be sure." Naminé evaded the question even while staring directly into Penelo's eyes.

"You're a computer!" Penelo protested angrily.

"Leave Naminé alone. She's trying to help," Kairi said warningly, aware that if this continued, Naminé might actually get upset.

"Yeah, I know…" the assistant sighed.

_It's ok, Nam. She doesn't get it._

"I know." Naminé smiled faintly.

"What?" Penelo asked from her charts. Kairi shrugged. Honestly, why was Penelo even bothering with all of the print-outs? Asking Naminé directly was just so much easier.

"Anything else been going on we should know about?"

"No," Naminé answered simply. Penelo squinted at a particular passage of code.

"Roxas still sounds like a fucking nutter. What did you do to him?"

"What I was asked to do. I erased his memory."

_And you did a damn fine job of it, I might add! Too bad he's totally bonkers now, though, _Kairi thought-spoke with a grin. Naminé gave her a look that one could almost describe as withering.

"Did you have to make him crazy in the process?" Penelo asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"I was told to prioritize erasure of information over the preservation of vital functions," Naminé said neutrally. Penelo blinked and looked blankly over at Kairi, clearly begging for an explanation.

"In other words, she had to fuck up some of the essentials to make sure he didn't know anything," Kairi translated easily. Amazing, really, how good she'd gotten at chatting amiably about the unsavory aspects of her job. If she ever got out of this place, she definitely had the skills for a promising future career as some sort of death row executioner.

"That's… kind of sick," Penelo said, her disgust showing on her face. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Our jobs are kind of sick. This place is kind of sick. _We're_ kind of sick. What else is new?" she muttered.

"We're not sick! We're the only people protecting them from… Should you be drinking that in here?" Penelo asked incredulously. While she'd been attempting to claim the moral high ground, Kairi had reached into her bag and pulled out a beer.

"Why not?" she asked with an insincere smile, as she popped the cap off.

"Penelo is right, Kairi. Drinking so much alcohol is bad for your health," Naminé admonished. Kairi blew her off with a shrug.

"Everyone dies, Nam. Who cares if I'm sooner rather than later? I'm dead to the world already, anyway." She meant the statement as a joke, but the flatness in her voice and eyes gave her away. Kairi was as surprised as the others. She wasn't accustomed to being so honest. And besides, _was_ it true? Had she really given up caring if she lived or died?

"Do not say that. You should not want to die." The first voice to break the silence was Naminé's, as calm and even as ever.

"You really mean it?" Kairi asked softly.

"Of course. I worry about you." Tears threatened the corners of her vision. Oh, _no- _she was _not _under any circumstances going to have another breakdown in front of freaking _Penelo, _no matter how sweet and touching her computer program was besides, she'd gotten the wordless, hidden message loud and clear, and Naminé was right, just like she always was. Kairi had to pull it together. People were depending on her.

"Uh. Guys?" Penelo asked awkwardly, left out of and yet privy to a private moment. Kairi wanted to slug her, but she wisely decided not to.

"Sorry," she said quickly, shaking her head to clear it. Get back on track, Kairi. "So, uh, we figured out what exactly Roxas's power is yet?"

"I think he's kind of a converter- he can convert energy into solid objects," Penelo said after a moment, taking Kairi's lead and moving the conversation onwards.

"Yes. That is what my findings are showing, as well. He has great range over what types of items he can produce, but his imagination is sharply limited by the TTA system," Naminé contributed helpfully. Kairi could feel her strong leader persona coming back. Yes, she had to keep it together- an entire computer full of people were depending on her to, well, not fuck them up more than was necessary to preserve her hidden identity. God. There was not enough alcohol in the world for this.

"Since you, ah, fixed him, have you seen him getting better or worse in that regard?"

"It depends on the day."

"What does that mean?" Penelo asked suspiciously. Kairi frowned.

_Yeah. What __**does**__ that mean?_

"His alertness fluctuates. I have not collected enough data to make a full assessment of his mental state." Kairi sighed. Back to square one again.

"That probably just means he's reacting to the programming- they all do," she explained to Penelo without looking over.

"Wait, what?" Kairi often forgot that Penelo hadn't been working on the program for as long as she had, and didn't know the ins and outs and quirks of Twilight Town Academy as well as she did. Time for Mental Prison 101.

"They're prisoners, Penelo," she began slowly. "They were all conscious when they were uploaded, so somehow, they must _know _that. You can't destroy free will- we just try to neutralize it by giving them unlimited choices in a severely limited environment. Any abnormality is a crack in our cage." She said all of this while focusing intently on anything that wasn't Penelo's eyes. To maintain her sanity, she had to keep at least some part of herself in complete denial of what she was doing, and the look in Penelo's eyes as she explained it would destroy her.

"I never thought of it that way," Penelo said quietly after a long moment.

"Well, start," Kairi ordered, with the air of a general leading a bedraggled army to their doom. "If anyone is in the right, here, it's definitely not us. Eventually, they're going to break out, and God help us if we're still here. Cheers!" She tipped back her bottle and took a long swig. Penelo muttered something about fucking alcoholics under her breath and went back to the reports. Something on the top page caught her eye.

"Oh, great, Roxas's started speaking in gibberish. Ick…. Mag…. Dick. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kairi's eyes widened, and she spewed beer all over Naminé. Both blondes glared at her, but Kairi had accidentally inhaled some liquid on the recoil and was too busy hacking to notice. Penelo tentatively patted Kairi's back to help her out, but by that time, Kairi could breathe again, and she roughly waved off the gesture. She refocused her attention on unfortunate, dripping Naminé.

"Is that German?" she asked sharply.

"She can speak German!?" Penelo gasped.

"She's a _computer_, dipshit," Kairi muttered as she wiped beer off her face with her lab coat sleeve. "Of course she has access to a fucking German/English dictionary." Penelo opened her mouth to form a retort, but was cut off by Naminé.

"_Ich mag dich. _In English, this means 'I like you,'" she said. Kairi's heart sank. Well, death on a stick. Apparently, Roxas's penis had decided to get in the way of her brilliant programming again. Stupid boys. This whole younger-subjects thing was a terrible idea. The first five were about as sexual as a sack of potatoes, and see how much trouble _they _were causing? None. That's right, none. Probably also because they were all completely braindead, but that was entirely beside the point at hand.

"Who was he talking to?" Kairi feared that she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway, just to be sure.

"Axel." Penelo found it first. Kairi moaned and tried to pull some of her hair out, with next to no success. Her job was difficult enough without horny teenagers thrown into the mix. As far as she was concerned, if _she _wasn't getting any, the prisoners didn't get any, either.

"God _dammit. _Did they hook up in the shower again?"

"No-"

"Axel and Roxas had sex in a shower!?" Penelo shrieked.

"There was no penetration," Kairi answered automatically, and she groaned. _You're invading my brain, Nam!_

"How could he speak in German?" Penelo asked frantically, apparently still flustered by the sex that didn't actually happen. "He's had his memory wiped _twice _now. He can barely form coherent thoughts in English!"

"The wipe may possibly have had some side effects. Erasing some memories may have given him access to others," Naminé theorized. "The human mind is very complicated."

_We know, Nam, _Kairi thought sarcastically. Wait, she could have just said that. This place was addling her brain. Like usual, it was probably just the sleazy floor-lighting. She switched back to the much less tiring verbal speaking.

"So, what you're saying is, you've erased so much that deeper memories are coming out? Like how a manatee is so ugly it's cute again?" she asked curiously. The idea intrigued her more than it probably safely should.

"I am only saying that that may be possible. What would you like me to do?" Naminé asked, looking directly at Kairi. She couldn't ask Naminé to erase him again- she just _couldn't. _Roxas was already so messed up as it was. But, if she allowed this to continue, he might become a liability. Decisions, decisions- what was she going to do?

"As is, he might destabilize the program… maybe we should just wipe him again." Penelo suggested quietly. "It's not like… he'll remember." She blanched and looked away. Kairi sighed. Oh, Penelo- so unused to making the hard decisions. That was why Kairi was boss.

"Yes. Do it." _Don't actually do it._ Naminé looked at her curiously.

"… Understood. And my parameters?"

"Just make sure he doesn't remember any German, or anything about himself." _I want to see how this plays out. Please keep an eye on him for me, and try to make sure he doesn't put any of the others at risk. And, make sure any more incidents like this are off the written record, ok? _

"Ok. I can do that," Naminé said agreeably. "Goodbye, Penelo. Goodbye, Kairi." She smiled, and disappeared. Both technicians let out sighs of relief and settled back in their chairs, but for completely different reasons.

"I'm glad that got nipped in the bud," Penelo murmured. "Though, I don't know why, but something about Naminé just gives me the heebie jeebies." Kairi didn't bother answering. She was too preoccupied with more important matters. She'd just set into motion events which she realized she wouldn't be able to stop if she changed her mind later- between this and the new room, she could feel her timeframe at Shinra growing short. Her breath tried to quicken, but she managed to stop the anxiety attack before it happened. She could do it. They hadn't once named her the Smartest Girl in America for nothing.

"What do we do now?" Penelo had already finished pushing all of the records into a neat pile and re-filing them, and she looked a little lost. Kairi smiled grimly.

"Well, for starters, we should probably clean up all this booze."

* * *

"Roxas, could you make this object for me?" The card had a picture of a bowl on it. Roxas focused, and created a bowl in his right hand, the kind he ate oatmeal out of. He looked at it. The golden, shimmering light bounced off the white walls in a way that he liked, and he smiled. Then he shivered, and the bowl disappeared. Professor Naminé wrote a note on a clipboard.

"Thank you, Roxas. Now, only one more test. Please make an object for me- anything you like." Roxas blinked.

"What?" He didn't quite understand the question.

"Make any object you like," Professor Naminé repeated. Roxas stared at his hand. Any… anything at all? The hand began to shake. Anything at all was too many options, and he didn't know what they were. Tears poured down his cheeks. The walls were closing in on him, and everything was dark, so dark, and how was he supposed to make anything at all when he could only make one thing at a time? He hugged himself and shook his head violently.

"Ok. We are finished. Please, Roxas, do not be afraid." Roxas tore his hand away when she tried to take it. "Roxas. It is time for dinner now. Wouldn't you like to eat with your friends?" He considered this option, and nodded slowly. He didn't like being alone, and he had been alone for a long time with Professor Naminé. This time, when she extended her hand, Roxas took it, and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. He got dizzy and fell a little, grabbing onto the chair to balance himself. Professor Naminé waited patiently. Roxas took a few deep breaths and righted himself, and the two of them walked out of the room. He stumbled exactly four times on his way to the cafeteria. His feet felt too big for his body. Professor Naminé left him alone at the door, and Roxas was soon collected by Axel and led to their usual spot.

Roxas was uninterested in the food that was placed in front of him. Instead, he focused on remembering to breathe and sit upright. Axel, Demyx, and Zexion were deep in a conversation that also didn't interest him. He missed the pretty gold lights from the bowl he had made.

"It's happened to me every night this week," Axel was saying in a low voice.

"Me too," said Demyx, glancing around himself nervously and obviously.

"I've had a dream every night for as long as I can remember," Zexion added. All three of them turned to look at Roxas. He didn't notice.

"Roxas? Do you have dreams yet?" Axel finally asked. Roxas stared at him.

"What? Yes, I'm Roxas…" he said confusedly. Axel sighed and turned back to the others.

"He had no idea what we're talking about. Think he remembers who we are yet?" Zexion asked Demyx and Axel. Why did they always talk about him like he wasn't there? Of course he knew who they were- they were his friends. Roxas wanted to tell him that, but in all his thinking he'd forgotten to breathe, and had to focus on taking several deep breaths in quick succession to stop himself from passing out. Then he forgot what he'd wanted to say.

"He knows who we are," Axel said. "Right, Roxas?"

"I'm Roxas?" Axel's face fell, and he shook his head and went back to his food. Roxas was hurt and upset but he didn't have words to tell anyone so, so he went back to picking at his food.

"Clearly, talking about it isn't helping us remember anything," Zexion said, referring to the dreams.

"So what do we do?" asked Demyx.

"…I don't know." Zexion said sadly. Everyone seemed very sad, especially Axel. Roxas wanted to do something to cheer him up. He thought and thought, and eventually came to a conclusion. The bowl had made him happy, so maybe he could make something for Axel, too? Something prettier than a bowl, though. He thought. He extended his hand and concentrated, first on a stem, which grew out from between his thumb and forefinger, then on the leaves, spreading out like fire, and finally onto the petals, each one separately, swirling up into an absolutely perfect flower. The lights danced on the ceiling and on everyone's faces, and Roxas smiled. He turned to Axel.

"For you," he said. "Please don't be sad." Everyone stared. Axel took the flower tentatively. Roxas let go, and it burned up from the bottom, first the stem, then the leaves, and then the petals, one by one. Axel stared at his hand in awe.

The bell rang. Roxas was pleased with himself- Axel didn't seem sad anymore. The students showered together, and moved into the dormitories. With Axel's help, Roxas climbed into his bed. Thinking that today was a good day, he fell asleep.

_Rock sat quietly on his bunk. His lessons were over, so he was just waiting for dinner to come. There wasn't much for a kid to do for fun at this Institute, especially not one who had no powers. His life was a whirlwind of forensics training, computer science, and body-building. He lived in a breeding factory for spies. _

_Suddenly, some shouts from the hall caught his attention. The bedrooms were largely soundproof, but they could only block out so much. His door clicked and began to slide open, which allowed him to hear the last part of the exchange._

"_Well, you- you can just go to hell!" The girl, a few years older than Rock, screamed as she walked in and slammed the door shut again. He looked at her curiously. These days it seemed that Aerith only came here when she was upset._

"_Was Seifer being mean to you again?" he asked. Code names, all, and ridiculous ones at that. All of the children held here were war orphans, taken in and trained to work for an organization of which they were never told the name. Each day he thought about running away, but then, where would he find food and shelter? Better to stay. Besides, they'd find him. The Institute was bigger than he was._

"_What?" Aerith shrieked in surprise and whirled around. "Oh, Rock. You scared me. I thought you weren't going to be here." Aerith was the closest thing that Rock had to a friend in this place, though she was almost 15 in comparison to his own 11. Despite her young age, Rock thought she was very pretty and grown-up. Plus, she had powers, the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the world. The Institute took in orphaned Others and trained them as special operatives- that was what they did. They wouldn't have collected him as a baby if he hadn't shown the signs of being an Other. But it seemed like everyone else got their powers ages before he did- what if something was wrong with him? What would happen if he __**wasn't **__an Other?_

"_You should just beat him up," he suggested to Aerith, regarding her Seifer problem. He had no doubts in his mind that she could do it, either. Seifer was all talk._

"_Oh… yeah, that's a good idea," Aerith laughed dishonestly, the way people do when they're humoring a child. "You cut yourself," she observed, changing the subject and pointing to a red mark on his arm. He'd fallen and cut himself that morning. Rock had forgotten the cut was even there. "Has anyone seen it?" Rock shook his head. The general policy was that only the most severe of injuries were treated, to raise pain tolerance and self-healing time, or something. _

_Aerith walked over to him and gently laid two fingers on the wound, and Rock watched with his usual amount of amazement as it closed up, seemingly all by itself. He smiled up at his friend._

"_Thanks, Aerith."_

"_No problem. Don't tell anyone," she said worriedly. Rock rolled his eyes at her- as if he would ever do anything so stupid as that! She laughed, a genuine laugh this time. "You're right. Hey, maybe if you're good, they'll let me take you out for… for…" Her bottom lip quivered. "…ice cream…" She burst into tears, her sobs filling up the tiny room with much more emotion than it could hold._

_Rock watched helplessly. Aerith did this all the time, and she thought he didn't notice- she would sneak into his room to hide, and cry until she couldn't anymore. He knew better than to ask what was wrong-this sort of thing was hurriedly swept under the rug at the Institute. He just wished there was something he could give her to make her feel better. She loved flowers- maybe he could convince them to let him go out and get her some flowers? No… no way would they let an 11-year-old boy out into Berlin by himself. But still, he wished. As he wished, his right hand began to tingle. He thought it was just falling asleep, so he shook it, but when he did, the sensation got worse. A flash of gold light later, and he was holding a fully-formed, beautiful rose. He stared at it like it was talking to him. Aerith looked up from her misery, and gasped in surprise._

"_Rock… you made a flower. Did you do that?" she asked, in a hushed tone._

"_I… I think so. I wanted to make you feel better," he admitted sheepishly. He made a flower. He actually thought about a flower and then it appeared in his hand. Was this his power? Did he finally have a power? Rock was giddy, and he wanted to share it. "Here. It's for you."_

"_Oh! Oh, really?" Aerith tried to take the flower, but as soon as it left Rock's hand, it disappeared in a shower of golden sparks. With a little bit of difficulty, he created another one, a little lopsided this time but still pretty, but the exact same thing happened._

"_Guess it only works on you," Aerith grinned. "Thanks for the thought, though." She wiped away her tears and pulled Rock into a deep, sisterly hug. "You're too sweet. Don't let this awful place change you. Promise me that, will you, Rock? Don't ever change," she whispered._

* * *

"Ok! Food and drink, coming right up!" Sora called over his shoulder as he flew out of Leon's bedroom and towards the kitchen. Riku had just woken up, and asked Sora for food and water, which Sora was of course happy to give him. He banked and dove sharply to the left, finally executing an elaborate spin maneuver and diving gracefully into the kitchen. He had gotten quite good at flying in enclosed spaces. But more importantly, Riku was awake! Finally! Sora had begun to worry that he wouldn't ever wake up, and he wasn't quite trained to take care of someone in a coma. He would've made it work, though- it's not like he could take Riku to a hospital, being what he was, and it was a stroke of sheer luck that Leon had even been able to clean up and bandage the wound in the first place.

Speaking of Leon, he too was in the kitchen, on a similar search. He was standing in the corner, away from the door, with his fangs sunk into a blood bag, sucking at it noisily. Sora's face twisted up in disgust for a split second, but he decided it was better to write it off as a twitch and not actually say anything. Leon seemed to be in quite a foul mood.

"Hi, Leon! Riku's awake. He says thanks for, you know, saving his life and stuff."

"Ungh," Leon not-responded, and he threw the empty bag into the trash and stormed back out. Sora chalked it up to not sleeping well- he had, after all, not slept in his own bed for an entire week. Well, since he was pissed off already anyway, he wouldn't mind if Sora let Riku eat some of his pasta, right? Sora found the dried noodles in the corner of one of the cabinets, located a large enough pot, and started cooking. He whistled a tune as he stirred, swaying back and forth. Riku was awake! And if he was awake, that meant he was probably already almost fully healed. Others healed a bit faster than normal humans, or so he'd been told- he'd never really had a chance to see it in action before.

Once the pasta was bubbling nicely, Sora pulled out another pot to boil some drinking water. The water in New York was supposedly safe, but you couldn't be too careful. He'd become quite the little domestic since moving in with Leon, if he did say so himself. Once the water boiled, he covered the pot and stuck it in the freezer so it would be cold. He found a water pitcher and cleaned it out- Leon sure did have a lot of weird kitcheny stuff, not that Sora was complaining at the moment. He wondered how much of it was already here when Leon moved in. The infamous Pansy Priest probably didn't do much cooking, the nearly nonfunctionally small kitchen looking the way it did, so maybe Leon had actually gone shopping for cooking supplies? The thought struck Sora as kind of odd.

He hadn't been expecting Leon to know how to dress a bullet wound, either. When Riku fell, Sora had just grabbed him without thinking and flown him back to the only place he could think of to go. He was pretty sure some early morning joggers had seen them, but he didn't particularly care. He'd dropped through his ceiling entrance screaming bloody murder, and Leon had immediately taken Riku from him (a bit more difficult than it sounds, since by that point Sora was going into shock and wouldn't let go) and disappeared into his room. Sora wasn't allowed to see him for two full days while he stabilized, and when Leon finally let him in, he was amazed at how… _small _Riku looked. This was Riku- he'd just seen him beating up an entire pack of guys! And one tiny bullet changed all that. Who on Earth still carried a _gun_, anyway? They'd been illegal in the city for as long as Sora could remember.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Sora had asked softly.

"Lucky they missed the heart," Leon grunted, not really answering the question.

Sora poured the now cold water into the pitcher, and strained the noodles. He dumped the pasta into a huge bowl, and pulled out some clean cups and utensils. At the last minute, he decided to bring his beloved jug of orange juice, too, in case Riku might want some. He also found a tray, so that Riku wouldn't spill food on himself. Satisfied with his finds, he piled them up in such a way as to be able to carry everything at once, and flapped back to the bedroom. He was pleased to see that Riku had managed to get some sleep while he'd been cooking- Riku really was pretty when he slept. The boy seemed to sense that Sora was there, because his eyes opened. Sora blushed and hoped he hadn't been caught peeking. He launched into his primary defensive mechanism, which was babbling uncontrollably.

"Ok- so, we don't have that much food here 'cause it's just me, but I made some noodles, and here's some water and orange juice- citrus is good for you!" he said quickly. "Oh, and I brought this for you to eat off of so you won't have to get out of bed." He thought for a moment and decided to add:

"Leon says hi."

* * *

And we finish up the chapter with a lead-in into Leon's issues. And hey, we finally got to see Kairi's power! After 14 chapters of it not really coming up, lol.

Beta: This fic is the fic of comas and puking.

Me: And panic attacks! Don't forget the panic attacks!

PLEASE read and review- I love hearing from you guys. Thanks as always to all my lovely reviewers :D


	16. Chapter 16

And here is your promised Cleon! Sorry for the fake-out. I quick-updated and threw in a dude from Brooklyn to make it up to you.

* * *

Leon was not a happy little vampire. Not that he'd ever been especially happy before, but he usually wasn't especially _not_ happy, either, and right now he was especially not happy. A week of caring for a gunshot victim and soothing the feelings of a wounded baby brother and panicking about the mysterious disappearing act his best friend had pulled had left Leon anxious and exhausted, and he was showing it. He'd given up cooking real food, and sleeping for more than four hours a day, and he had noticeably lost weight, leaving him emaciated and sickly. He was _not_ cut out for this.

Three days prior, Leon had taken a cab to Cloud's place of employment to find out what the hell was going on. He shelled out the cash to the driver, and then shoved through the doors into the dingy pizza place, assaulted by the smells of about a dozen different types of pizza available by the slice. During the cab ride he'd written out a note for Cloud, then crumpled and tossed it, then written another, and then another, and another. Finally, he'd settled on:

_CALL ME – LEON_

So, it was with purpose and confidence that Leon strode up to the counter and asked if he could leave a message for Cloud, who worked here.

"Cloud Strife? He don't work here no more," the man behind the counter snarled at him.

"What are you talking about?" Leon argued with relative calm. "He's worked here since he was in high school."

"Yeah, well, that was before he skipped out on three shifts in a row. I ain't no babysitter," the man grumbled, followed by something that sounded suspiciously similar to 'so hard to find good help these days,' or possibly the Brooklyn equivalent. Leon just stared. Cloud had missed _three shifts in a row_? Did that mean he really _had _gone missing?

"Did he tell you where he was going, or when he'd be back?" Leon deadpanned, overcompensating so that the man wouldn't hear how worried he actually was.

"Nope. He don't write, he don't call. If you see him, tell him his spot ain't open. He's done."

"Uh.. can do, sir," Leon answered in a daze. His brain was deciding to just ignore this news that Cloud had let himself lose his job. The first stage of acceptance was denial, after all. He didn't even realize that he had zoned out standing at the Famous Famiglia pizza counter.

"Can I help you with anything else?" the manager asked finally, staring at Leon like he had a bug on his face. Startled out of his trance, Leon blushed slightly and scratched his ear.

"Uh, yeah, can I have a piece of Hawaiian?"

Pizza in hand, Leon set off through the dark city streets, aiming for a busier area where he might find a cab to take him back home. On the inside, he was kicking himself. He should have stayed and drilled the pizza guy for information. But, on the other hand, it was clear that the guy didn't know anything, and that Cloud had simply flown the coop. Ugh, wasn't that a terrible metaphor, considering what his brother was. Oh God, what was he going to tell Sora?

Leon stopped, and stared at the crust in his hand. Cloud was gone. No- no, that wasn't like Cloud at all, he wouldn't just run away and disappear. He was always the responsible one. Something must have happened to him. Something bad enough for him to miss work for almost a week? What if he was sick, or worse? _No- don't think like that. Cloud's fine, he's just… somewhere other than here. Remember how excited he was about his new apartment? If only he'd bothered to tell me where it __**was**__. _

God, how he wished Cloud were here right now just so he could punch him in the mouth. He wouldn't even hold back, either, he'd just bash his face right in. How _dare_ he leave them like this. Leon wanted to wring his neck and shout, that should have been _you_ there, comforting your brother when he dropped through the ceiling, covered in blood, clinging to a corpse, wailing his lungs out. But somehow, Cloud always managed to leave him behind. No matter how hard he tried, he supposed that some part of him would always be that little 8-year-old trying to explain to his best friend why he couldn't go to his birthday party.

"Why not?" had been 8-year-old Cloud's simple question.

"Can't."

"Why not? My parents rented the pool for the whole afternoon!"

"I can't- I, uh, don't have a bathing suit." Well, it was true.

"Borrow one of mine!"

"Uh, I sunburn really fast." Also true, in a more literal sense than the expression was generally meant. "My mom doesn't like me going out in the sun." And, finally, also very true.

"Your mom's a big freak," muttered Cloud.

"She is not!" Leon shouted defensively.

"Your mom's so dumb, she wanted the 48 bus so she took the 24 bus twice," Cloud jeered, sticking his tongue out.

"You take that back!" Leon hit Cloud first, then Cloud hit him right back, and fairly soon they were tumbling on the ground, kicking and clawing and biting and hair-pulling and wrestling out their differences, the way they always did. Leon didn't go to the birthday party, Cloud had a wonderful time anyway, and everyone moved on.

Except Leon, who was, apparently, a chronic dweller, and still thought about these things well into adulthood. He smiled ruefully and shook his head at the memory. He looked up at the sky like he always did when he missed his mother. No stars were visible to indicate any sort of heaven, even if Leon had believed in one. And, even if Leon believed in heaven and it actually existed, vampires certainly wouldn't go there after they died, anyway, so the gesture wasn't even effectively symbolic. In any case, Leon didn't know where else to look to talk to her, so the habit had stuck.

_Hey, Mom, _he thought quietly. _Cloud just disappeared, I'm in charge of his kid brother, I'm holding a piece of pizza and I have no idea where I am. What do I do? _Like usual, he waited a few moments, as if he were going to get a response, and like usual, none was forthcoming. He sighed and shook his head. Every time. Every time something happened, still, his first instinct was to run and tell his mother. He wondered if that would ever stop.

With a sigh of resignation, Leon shoved the last of his pizza crust into his mouth and walked back towards the smell of people.

That had been three days ago. Since then, Leon had spent his every waking moment searching for Cloud, even going so far as to get in touch with a few of his Other contacts, pretending the search was for a job. The effort was pushing him past his usual "standoffish recluse" and more and more closely towards "tenuously sane." His anxiety was seeping into even the least dramatic areas of his life, so it was no surprise that he was a little harsh with Riku, his second, involuntary, and least favorite charge. He'd cleaned the boy up, sure- it wasn't like he was just going to let someone die. But it didn't mean he had to be happy about having yet another mouth to feed. At least watching Riku kept Sora busy.

"Changing time," he said roughly, banging into his bedroom with an armload of bandages and antiseptic. Sora was bathing himself, a long and arduous process with the wings, so Leon had jumped on the opportunity to do his job without having Sora literally hovering over his shoulder. This would be the first time that Leon had changed Riku while he was awake, and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Not being able to sleep in his own goddamn bed was getting pretty old, too, but surly curmudgeon though he was, Leon wasn't heartless enough to make a gunshot victim sleep on the floor. He was, however, heartless enough to be an asshole about it.

"Good morning, sunshine," Riku said faux-cheerfully, sensing Leon's foul mood. The two of them hadn't gotten along especially well when they'd first met, and Leon didn't see how they would get along especially well now, especially since Riku had already started with the passive-aggressive quips. Today, though, Leon didn't feel like quipping, so he just sat Riku up, tore off his bandages and began roughly cleaning up the exposed skin. To his credit, Riku bore the insensitive strokes without complaint. After a long moment, he spoke again.

"Uh, you ok? You look like shit." Leon ignored him- after all, he had no idea what he looked like even on the best of days, so looks didn't concern him much. "Sora's worried about you," Riku added as an afterthought. _And I him_, Leon thought grumpily. _Doesn't mean I'm going to talk to __**you **__about it, so shut your pie hole._

The two settled into an uncomfortable silence as Leon rewrapped Riku's shoulder. The ragged bullet hole had healed admirably, and the new bandage was barely even necessary, but he still didn't want to run the risk of infection.

"There. Done. Can you move it?" Riku tested his shoulder, and winced.

"Not really."

"Ok. Well, don't move it, then."

"Yes, sir." Leon rolled his eyes and dumped all of the old bandages into a garbage bag. He was ready to leave when he was stopped by a question.

"Where did you learn to do all that stuff?" He turned back around, expecting a sarcastic follow-up, but Riku's voice was completely genuine. His exotic blue eyes were lit up, and he was leaning slightly forward. The body language shouted loud and clear that he actually wanted to know. Leon was a little surprised.

"What?" He kicked himself for being surprised that someone would be interested in him. Cloud had been trying to get him over that for almost as long as they'd known each other. His heart jumped- _Cloud_.

"Where did you learn how to clean up a bullet wound," Riku clarified, leaning back into his pillows and regaining a bit of his usual cool exterior.

"My mother taught me." No harm in telling the kid the truth, he supposed.

"She's a doctor?"

"No, she wasn't." Leon automatically switched to the past tense. He hated that, referring to people in the past tense. But if you refer to someone who's been dead for years in the present tense, everyone thinks you're crazy.

"Oh." Riku seemed a little confused by the tense switch, then his eyes widened in recognition. "Oh. I'm sorry." He looked at Leon… not quite sympathetically. More was going on than that. A glimmer of understanding was hiding in Riku's eyes. Had he lost a parent, too? That most definitely wasn't a conversation Leon wanted to get into, so he tried to keep the one they already had going.

"She just- she thought it would be good to know, since vamps get injured a lot," he babbled. Not that he would ever admit to babbling.

"Ha. I know what you mean." Leon automatically opened his mouth to retort _no you don't_, but suddenly stopped short. Riku _did_ know what he meant. He knew what he meant painfully and exactly, and on top of that, his own condition was much more difficult to hide. He'd probably been fighting for his life almost daily for years upon years. Hell, according to Sora, that was how he'd gotten the wound that had brought him here in the first place. Riku _got it_. "Smart lady," the werewolf added, with his sad little smirk.

"Yeah… yes, she was," Leon smiled, genuinely, for the first time in days. He turned to leave again.

"Leon?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No prob."

* * *

Demyx was awakened early by shouts. He struggled to hold onto his dream, like always, but everything he'd seen was gone as quickly as if it had been washed down a drain. By the time he'd finished trying to remember, he was awake enough to concentrate on the shouting that had woken him up in the first place. The noise was coming from directly beneath him- Zexion's bed.

Zexion was thrashing wildly, crying out without managing to form any words. The movements seemed to be a response to whatever he was seeing while he slept. His dreams had been getting much louder recently. Demyx leaned his head over the side of his bunk to take a peek.

"Zexion? Are you all right?" he asked worriedly. If he continued like this, he was going to hurt himself. Zexion bucked again, smacking a bedpost with one of his feet. Demyx gracefully hopped down from his bed, and gently shook his friend's shoulder.

"Zexion, wake up. You're dreaming," he urged. At the next bed over, Saïx and Luxord were waking up and beginning to notice the commotion. Zexion had never been this loud before. Everyone else was going to find out about the dreams. That couldn't happen. Demyx shook him again. Luxord was awake, now, and beginning to panic.

"Is she watching us?" he asked frantically. Saïx mumbled something in response that Demyx couldn't hear. He was focused on Zexion. Something curious was happening to his eyes. Tiny droplets of water were coming out of them, and sliding down Zexion's face. Demyx had seen this before, but only during combat practice, once, when Saïx had almost torn Marluxia's arm off. Did this mean Zexion had hurt himself badly? Reaching out to dry the offending bits of water, he yelped in surprise when Zexion snapped an arm out and pulled him into an awkward embrace. His nose jammed painfully into Zexion's bony shoulder.

"Zex-?" he mumbled, but he was muffled by the shoulder as Zexion lifted another hand and dug it roughly into his hair. Demyx decided to try again. "Zexion-"

But Zexion wasn't there anymore. Demyx had left Twilight Town Academy.

The room was gone, the bed was gone, and he was back upright, on his feet.

Said feet were resting on warm asphalt; a gentle breeze ruffled through his hair. He was in a city, and within that city, a tiny playground. Demyx had appeared here directly in front of the swing set- a jungle gym and a slide were behind him, a friendly and unimposing presence. Despite being punctured by skyscrapers, the sky stretched out above him, dotted by a few fluffy clouds.

All of these concepts floated back into Demyx's mind easily, like music. Part of him wanted to close his eyes and take a deep breath, but he was desperate to keep his eyes open. He hadn't seen the sky in so long. His body relished the open space. This was _right_- this was where he was supposed to be.

At the edge of the playground, a particular building, much lower than the others, called out to him. Something told him it was a school, like his own, but different. He decided he should go there. With determination, he lifted up his right foot, and took a single step.

With that step, he came crashing back down into his dorm room.

The jump was accompanied by high-volume screaming. It took Demyx a long moment to realize that the sound was coming from himself. Someone, looked like Saïx, had hauled Zexion off of him, and the purple-haired boy was awake now, shaking and staring at him with wide eyes. Demyx stumbled backwards, desperate to get away from him, still screeching like a banshee. He fell off the bed and backed up against the wall, shivering and terrified. The commotion had woken up the rest of the students, and they were beginning to gather, staring at him. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his breath was coming shorter and shorter. Why was everyone staring at him? Why was everyone always _staring at him_?

His screams were broken up by painful hiccups as he started having difficulty breathing. He pulled his knees up to his chest and held himself, loudly but wordlessly willing everyone to just go away. And then, suddenly, they did. The crowd dispersed, Zexion last, leaving Demyx quite by himself in the dorm. He crumpled to the floor, sobbing. He didn't want to be here. He hadn't asked for this- he hadn't asked for _any_ of this.

That was how Professor Naminé found him. She walked over to him and kneeled, gently resting a hand on his shoulder. He refused to respond.

"Demyx. The others are waiting for you," she said softly.

"No," said Demyx. It was the only word he felt like saying.

"Demyx, look at me, please."

"No."

"Demyx." Professor Naminé gently slid her fingers under his chin, and turned it upwards. Demyx didn't resist. He looked into her eyes, and she looked into his. She spoke to him without words, comforting him, gently brushing his bangs out of his face with her free hand. Something about those eyes… Demyx could feel the pain and the hurt washing away, like his dreams. His eyelids drooped, his body began to relax. He stopped crying and slumped tiredly into the floor. Naminé allowed him to break eye contact, and gathered him up in her arms. She held him there for a long moment, rocking him gently from side to side.

"Demyx, will you be all right?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he mumbled. He leaned into her, fully relaxed now, completely at ease. He needed to go to the cafeteria- Zexion and Axel and Roxas would be waiting for him.

"Would you like to go meet your friends now?"

"Yes, please." Professor Naminé gently slid her hands under his arms, and helped Demyx to his feet. He continued to lean against her, exhausted, but happy.

He had seen the sky.

* * *

Cloud had managed to sleep for basically all of the day, willing himself back into unconsciousness whenever he happened to wake up. Unfortunately, once the sun went down, the vampire that now resided inside of him got a tad more pushy. He woke up, still curled up on the kitchen floor, and felt like he'd been pounded in the gut with a truck. As if he'd never eaten anything before in his entire life, and his body was desperate to make up for lost time. His stomach felt angry enough that it might tear him open , crawl out of his midsection, and try its luck on its own. Wow, that was a gross mental image.

Gross or not, Cloud found himself grabbing onto a cabinet and pulling himself to his feet. He himself whined that he'd rather just lie down and die; his body ignored him and kept moving on its own. Somewhere deep inside, he was aware that this was survival instinct- the vampire knew it was dying, so it was trying to take over. Were he able to look at himself in a mirror, Cloud would have been able to see every rib, every hip bone, every vertebrae, every everything, really. He was starving to death. The vampire was having none of it, and soon Cloud was fully on his feet, sniffing for food. All he could smell was the puke from the bathroom, which was most definitely not food, and for that matter hadn't even been food the first time around, so the vampire decided to take the search outside. Unbidden, Cloud's body dragged him over to the door and pushed it open.

Getting down four flights of stairs was a chore that Cloud's battered self was definitely not up for. He fell twice. He barely even felt the cuts and bruises; compared to the pain in his belly, they were mosquito bites. By the time he got to the bottom, he was practically crawling, and he pathetically hit the door button, leveraged the door open, and stumbled out into the city.

The explosion in his senses that happened thereafter allowed him to further appreciate just how sterile Sephiroth's apartment really was. The first part that shocked him was his vision- everything in sight was, for lack of a better description, clear as day, and much more sharply detailed. He could see every barb on every wire surrounding the APD anchor on the plot next door. His ears and nose picked up sounds and smells he hadn't even known existed, and he found himself turning his head every which way, very much like a child, taking in everything around him and trying to decide which direction to go. Finally, the vampire teased out something that Cloud himself would never have been able to find on his own. The smell of blood. Lots and lots of it. Civilization, that-a-way.

The vampire eagerly took a step in that direction. _Wait_. Cloud managed to stop himself, barely. If he had to be stuck on a runaway road to hell, at the very least he refused to _walk_ there. Using the brick walls of the apartment building for support, he hobbled around to the side, where he'd parked his motorcycle when he'd come here, however long ago that was.

Apparently he'd been out for quite a while, because the bike was gone.

Cloud just stared stupidly at the empty space where his beloved motorcycle was supposed to be. He reached out a hand and felt around, as if maybe she had just become invisible, and as soon as he touched her she'd pop back into existence and they'd ride off into the night the way they always did. No such luck. He found himself blinking back tears. He _loved_ that bike, more than he had ever or would ever love anything in his entire life. And now said life was over, and he had no bike. Were his life story being studied in a sophomore American Lit class, the smarmy teacher would almost certainly be going out of her way to point out that his motorcycle was a symbol of his masculinity, and its disappearance continued the cycle of emasculation begun by Sephiroth. As it was, he didn't care about his symbolic testosterone or lack thereof, he just wanted her _back_. But before he could even begin properly mourning, the vampire tugged harder than it had before, yearning to go back towards the heart of the city, and especially the blood. Defeated, Cloud let it take over.

What should have been less than a five minute trip took almost an hour, since Cloud kept having to stop to take breaks and catch his breath. Were he still fully human, he would have sat down to die, well, when he wanted to, back in the apartment. The vampire kept him moving. He was getting closer and closer to the lights and the sounds, when Cloud stopped himself, with difficulty. What was he going to do once he got there? What if he attacked someone? He directed himself away from the main streets and into side roads and alleyways, hoping he wouldn't run into people there. He wasn't really controlling what his body was doing- all he could hope for was that he would be able to stop himself from doing something crazy. And that was when his nose and eyes caught sight of something that excited the vampire a good deal.

A fluffy kitty cat.

The cat was sitting at the other end of the alley, grooming herself like she hadn't a care in the world. She was clearly someone's pet, and very well fed- her black and white coat was shiny and looked unbelievably soft. Cloud wanted to touch it. The vampire did, too.

"Hi, kitty," he breathed, his voice disturbingly raspy from disuse. The cat turned and looked up at him, blinking once, slowly, the way cats do. Cloud wondered how it wandered into a creepy alley in the first place, and why it wasn't running away from him. If the way he felt was any indication, Cloud must have looked absolutely terrifying, and besides that, even his human nose would have been able to tell him that he was getting rather ripe, what with not having bathed in God knows how long. Apparently the cat didn't mind, even when Cloud bent down to pick her up under her two front legs. She just kept staring at him, adorable little pink nose twitching this way and that.

"Ok, this won't hurt at all," Cloud tried to reason with the cat, dangling at arm's length, even while he opened his mouth to bring his fangs out, something the vampire helpfully did for him. "I mean, I just went through it and it hurt a lot, but you're littler than me, so it won't take so long, I guess." All of that speaking caused his dry throat to hurt. His empty stomach sent a jolt of intense pain through his abdomen. The smell of the cat's blood was driving his mind absolutely bonkers. The cat just kept right on staring at him.

"Aren't you going to try to run away or something? I'm going to _eat_ you." His gravelly voice wasn't very encouraging, but he hoped the message got through. He didn't especially want to eat the cat. This infuriated the vampire. _Eat the cat! Eat the cat! Eat the cat!_

"Mrow?" said the cat.

"ARGH!" Cloud dropped her, and she finally took the hint, dashing off into the night where he wouldn't be able to find her. He collapsed onto the filthy concrete and curled up into the fetal position, riding the brutal stomach cramps out until they finally stopped. This time, they were so painful that they squeezed tears out of his eyes. Maybe he'd already moved past starvation and into the part where his body starts digesting itself- hell, he didn't know how a vampire's body worked. He hugged himself and shivered on the ground, too miserable to allow himself to move.

_How does Squall live like this? _

**-ffnet wouldn't let me put a line break here for some reason lolz hi guys-**

The mode of transportation (motorcycle/car/horse/whatever) is ALWAYS a masculinity/phallic symbol. So are weapons. Flowers usually stand in for sex and sexuality, and people getting stabbed is always symbolic penetration. (And if you're like me and you have someone getting symbolically AND literally penetrated at the same time like our poor Cloud, that's just, whoa, way too much symbolism all at once, like a sledgehammer to the face. Which is why I am a writer of fanfiction and not seminal works of literature. :) ) Bring this up in your next English Lit 101 class and everyone will think you're totally brilliant. This public service brought to you by your friendly neighborhood fanfic writer here at Erased, Inc. We're totally on the cutting edge. I mean, how many fanfics have _you _seen that have Cloud Strife both discussing literary criticism and telling 'your mom' jokes?

Tune in to the next chapter, wherein due to budget cuts, all dialogue will be replaced by cheesy lines from Advent Children and gratuitous pop culture references. A preview:

CLOUD: I'm no good to anybody. Not my family, not my friends, nobody.

LEON: Stop being a douche.

CLOUD: You don't get it! There's nothing I _don't_ cherish!

LEON: Um, wait, what?

CLOUD: I feel lighter. Maybe I lost some weight.

LEON: Seriously, man, you and me, we're fuckin' _done _professionally_. _

**Review plz kthx**


	17. Chapter 17

I wrote an entire full-length chapter in only one POV. Worship me. :D Here it is, Erased 2.0, now with 100% more references to Salvador Dali paintings.

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Sora hummed to himself as he ran the faucet, getting ready to take a bath. His method of self-cleaning was a little unorthodox to be sure, but hey, it got the job done. His wings were scrunched up in the small bathroom, pushing up against two opposing walls. He spent hours upon hours in all of his boring days preening his long feathers with his fingers, so all he had to worry about now was his body and his hair, both of which could be taken care of with a sink and some flexibility. Yes, Sora loved his bath time, mostly because it was the only time of day where he could jack off without having to worry about getting caught.

The steam from the sink was already fogging up the mirror. Sora slid the straps of his baggy tank top down off his arms and dropped the garment down around his ankles. Pulling anything over his head was of course out of the question. Then he pushed his snug jeans down, and stepped out of everything all at once, leaving him in just his little boxer-briefs. Some may say that this was a lot of trouble to go through just to jack off, but Sora Strife, the Great Masturbator_, _cut no corners while preparing to pleasure himself. Unfortunately, a loud bang on the door tore him out of his carefully crafted zen-like state.

"Don't use all the hot water again. Some of us would like to bathe, too," Leon grouched through the door.

"I know!" Sora yelled back, and listened to Leon's grumpy footsteps retreat down the hall. "Buzzkill," he muttered irritably, but he took a deep breath and went back to his happy place.

The thick heat was causing his skin to glisten and drip rather pleasantly. He slid the tips of his fingers under the waistband of his tiny shorts, and gently shimmied out of them, twisting his hips from side to side. He was already partially hard, and he hadn't even touched himself yet. Stripping like this _always _got him in the mood- it was the only time he got to be sexy. No matter how hard Sora tried to convince himself otherwise, wings just straight-up weren't sexy. But in here, or at the bathroom in his and Cloud's old apartment, with the heat and the steam and the blurry mirror… here, he could pretend.

Sora closed his eyes and allowed some of his weight to lean back into the brace created by the pressure of his oversized wings pressing up against the walls. He thought of Riku, Riku ok, Riku awake, how happy he had looked when Sora brought him the bowl of pasta. His hand jumped into action all its own. Sora's hips bucked and he let out a low, breathy moan, not even bothering to hide it. With the water on, he could just let his body react whichever way it wanted to. God, he loved bath time.

The mirror was now so covered with steam that Sora could no longer see his reflection, just a dull outline of a person. He fancied it was Riku, and offered it a sexy smile, even while picking up the pace down below. His Riku just stared back impassively while he moaned and leaned away from the sink, arching his back to give the shadow a full view. The sink overflowed, splattering scalding water all over Sora's discarded clothes. He was close, now. His wings shuddered mightily, lifting his feet just ever-so-slightly off of the warm, wet floor, and he cried out, releasing his orgasm into a waiting hand.

Sora turned the sink off and slumped back, exhausted. Heat shone behind his eyes, and his head was spinning. He waited patiently for what he knew would come next. The calm began in his groin, and spread slowly, gently relaxing each muscle until it reached his brain, pushing out a sigh of relief. In here, in this bathroom, like this, Sora was content. He didn't care about anything- not that his brother had run out on him, or that Leon was mean to him, or that his only friend got shot. Here, he was happy.

After a long moment of blissful, brainless relaxation, Sora finally moved to clean himself up. The actual bath part of his daily ritual took about ten minutes, but no way was he going to tell Leon that. He finished by dunking his head in the sink to get rid of the shampoo, then roughly dried his hair and wrapped a towel around his waist. He left his drenched clothes where they were- he'd move them later. With some stretching, he managed to bend his body through the doorway and get his wings to follow him, and he pattered down the hallway to the stairs, and down towards his loft. Once he was dressed, he immediately ran upstairs to see Riku. Now that he was masturbated up and relaxed, they had some serious planning to do.

"Riku!" he shouted, swooping into Leon's bedroom with what he considered to be magnificent flair. Riku, however, yelped and shrank back automatically from the huge appendages. As he slowly came to realize time and time again, Sora's actual physical presence didn't quite match his own view of himself. He always forgot that the wings were large enough to be terrifying.

"Hey, Riku," he tried again, pulling the wings back behind them and dropping them down to take up less space. He hoped his disappointment didn't show, but hey, it probably did. "Did ya miss me?" he asked goofily, trying to lighten the mood.

"Uh, yeah, sure. You, uh, you have a nice shower?" Riku squeaked, blushing faintly and rubbing his nose.

"The best!" Sora said cheerfully, not noticing Riku's embarrassment and sitting down on the chair next to Riku's bed. "So, tell me about your mind-reader guy. Did Leon change your bandages?"

"Which one do you want to know first?" Sora stared at him blankly. Riku sighed. "Yes, Leon changed my bandages. He's a cool guy." Sora blinked.

"_Leon_? He actually likes you? Can you put in a good word for me?"

"Ok, I'll try," Riku said awkwardly, dropping his hand back down to his lap. He was acting weird. Sora hoped that he hadn't forgotten the agreement they just made.

"_Now _mind-reader guy," he prompted gently.

"I met him after- after I, you know, unleashed my inner monster and rampaged the city," Riku said softly, averting his eyes.

"Don't say that," Sora said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly.

"What?"

"You're not a monster." Riku stared at him. A long moment passed between them. Well, it was the truth- he really _wasn't _a monster, any more than Sora was, and Sora certainly didn't feel very monstrous. He didn't say anything, though, waiting for Riku to respond. Finally, Riku cleared his throat, and continued, dodging the subject completely.

"Uh- so, anyway, even knowing what I was, he was still really nice to me. He gave me clothes and everything. And he really could read minds- he was responding to everything I wanted to say before I said it, even the crazy stuff. And then he told me I was close to what I was looking for. Maybe he was just trying to make me feel better or something, I don't know, but I figure talking to him can't _hurt_, you know? I have nothing else to go off of." The sadness was evident in Riku's voice. Sora was noticing that now that Riku wasn't trying to be aloof or mysterious, his speech was getting more relaxed, slipping into patterns more like a kid Sora's age. A normal teenager. And with that, he was betraying his hopelessness. He obviously really wanted to find Botan Shimizu. Well, Sora was going to help him.

"Where'd you meet him?" he asked, referring of course to the creepy mind-reader.

"Uh, I can show you. There's a map in my pocket." Riku gestured his good arm over towards his pile of clothes in the corner, clothes that Sora had washed himself. He'd separated all of Riku's personal belongings before doing laundry, and he grabbed the tattered old city map easily. The map was just so _old- _he spent hours looking at it while Riku was asleep, tracing his fingers over the bright lines that marked the subway routes, marveling at the place names that had existed fifty years ago.

"This is amazing. Where did you get it?" he asked, as he handed the well-loved piece of paper over to Riku.

"It's my mom's. She came here when she was little and she loved the city, so she always saved it. I… I stole it before I left," he explained, more than a little guiltily. He had difficulty unfolding it with only one arm, so Sora took over and did it for him. Riku sighed. "The city doesn't look anything like this anymore, though. I met him here. " He pointed to the upper west side.

"You went to Central Park!?" Sora gasped. No one _ever _went into Central Park. It was a toxic wasteland. The very name was a joke.

"No, no, northwest of Central Park. If I went inside, it was only as a wolf. I woke up in a gutter up here somewhere. If we got close, I'd be able to find the spot."

"All right." Sora hopped up onto his feet. "Wanna go now?"

"What?" Riku stared at him again. Sure, his shoulder was still bandaged up, but from Sora's perspective, he definitely looked strong enough to travel. He wouldn't be doing the work, anyway.

"I can get us there in less than an hour, if you're ok with flying. Last time we did it you were kind of, you know." Sora scratched the back of his head, and smiled to try to calm Riku's obvious uneasiness. The last time they'd flown together, Riku was unconscious and bleeding to death. They both knew it. Sora was desperate to forget- he'd never been so scared in his life. Thank God for Leon. God bless Leon for being there, when Cloud wasn't.

"Uh- I'm good with walking…" Riku said meekly, apparently not eager to relive the moment, either.

"Yeah, well, I'm not," Sora huffed. "I'd have to fly after you. People kind of freak out when they see me." Riku looked guilty again. "And besides, you won't be strong enough to walk all the way there on your own for _days _yet. It's easier if I just carry you."

"But-"

"Cloud's not coming," Sora said bluntly. Riku winced, but this time, Sora didn't cry. He didn't even choke up. If Cloud was going to abandon him, he'd just have to abandon his brother right back. He ignored the knot in his stomach. "He's not coming, I'm done waiting for him, and I know you're in a hurry, so there's no point in waiting around here. No time like the present, right?"

"You sure we could leave now?" Riku finally said.

"Yeah, we just need to sneak past Leon. Let me see what he's doing. Gimme a sec." Sora cracked the door open and listened. Leon was in the kitchen. After he ate evening-breakfast, he always took a shower. Which meant they had a few minutes to get Riku dressed and mobile, and then the length of the shower time to get out of the church. Leon didn't take as long as Sora did in the bathroom, of course, but it was definitely doable. "Ok, we're good. He's eating, which means next he'll take his shower. Can you stand?"

"Are you sure we should go right now?" Riku repeated more quietly. Was he worried about Cloud, or something else? Sora had already said he was ready to leave, _and _formulated a plan. They were going.

"Come on." Sora threw back Riku's blankets, surprised to see that Riku was still only wearing his underwear. The boy blushed a deep shade of scarlet and muttered something about getting some clothes on. Sora had already seen Riku's body loads of times this week, and instead of checking him out like he supposed he probably should, he mostly just felt bad that Riku looked so thin and tired. Well, he had some food in him now, and the weight loss would make him easier to carry. Sora flitted over to the corner and grabbed Riku's clothes, helping him into his jacket and pants, careful not to do anything that would offend his new friend's apparent modesty.

"Can you stand?" he asked again. Riku tentatively swung his legs over the side of the bed and struggled to his feet. He'd healed quickly, but apparently not quite fast enough. Sora grabbed his ribs, the most asexual place he could think of, to stop him from falling over. "Whoa. You gonna make it?" The water switched on in the bathroom, indicating that Leon had started his shower. Now or never.

"Yeah," Riku said, weakly but with determination. Sora felt the familiar sensation of swelling admiration. "Yeah. You're right. Let's go."

"Ok! You're going to need to get on my back." Riku seemed less than thrilled with the idea. "Don't worry, I'll hold on to you. You're not going to fall." He got down on his hands and knees and unfurled his wings, giving Riku easy access for the piggy-back ride. "Choo choooo! All aboard the Sora express!" he shouted, throwing a playful grin over his shoulder. Riku smiled back, and lifted one leg to straddle Sora's back, slowly lowering his weight as carefully as he could, considering how weak his muscles were.

"Is that good?" he asked. _God yes_, Sora thought. But that's not what he said_._

"Yeah. Now, wrap your good arm around my neck- I'm going to stand up." Riku obediently did as he was told, and Sora's chest muscles shivered at the touch. Then they tightened, as he opened his wings up and flapped into the air, swinging his legs out and righting himself. Riku clung to him for dear life, and Sora seized the opportunity to slide his hands under his thighs to keep him from falling off. Hey, if he was going to be the workhorse, he might as well get something out of it. "Are you good?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so," Riku answered, clinging to him a little more tightly. Sora didn't mind.

Despite his small stature, Sora was still an Other, and plenty strong enough to carry a boy his own size. He pattered sturdily out the room and down the hall, paying attention to the fact that the shower was still running. Getting down the stairs was a little difficult- he was used to flying- but since he was worried about bumping Riku's head, he just walked like a normal person. Once he was out into the open space of the church, he bent down, and braced himself for take-off. At the last moment, he thought it might be better to give his passenger a warning.

"I'm going to fly now. Hold on!" Riku barely got a chance to prepare before Sora launched them both upward, beating his wings a few times and landing with a mighty _whump _on the rafter directly beneath the hole in the ceiling. The force of the double weight reverberated through the entire church.

"Do you think he heard that?" Riku whispered.

"Does it matter?" Sora laughed, giddy at the prospect of getting out into the open air. He hadn't been outside in a _week. _Who'd have thought that sneaking away from Leon would become his favorite hobby?

Sora flapped up onto the roof of the church, holding on to Riku's thighs a little tighter to stop the injured boy from falling off. Not having his arms available made things a little bit more difficult than usual, but hey, he wasn't about to complain. His wings had been aching for a good workout for a while, so the extra weight didn't bother him much. Like usual, he jogged to the edge of the roof and flapped over to the next building. He didn't miss the tiny squeak that came from Riku, or the way his legs and good arm tightened around his torso as his feet left the ground.

"Hmm? Are you afraid of heights?" he asked slyly. That explained why Riku wasn't particularly thrilled about this plan.

"Mmph," Riku mumbled into his hair. Sora grinned stupidly, knowing that Riku couldn't see him. He was too weighed down to try anything particularly fancy, but man, he was going to have some fun with this. With an excited whoop, he took off at a sprint. Riku whimpered pathetically and tightened his grip even more, almost cutting off Sora's ability to breathe. Almost.

Sora raced to the edge of the building, and leaped off into midair. He didn't even bother to beat his wings, content to glide, delighting in the feel of Riku's terrified little gasps on the back of his neck. He crouched low as he landed, allowing his thighs to absorb the shock, and then took off again, ignoring Riku's shriek of protest. This time, the next building was higher, and Riku shivered as Sora's wings stirred up the air. He flew to higher and higher buildings, roughly in a northwest direction, moving towards the open, empty expanse that was Central Park.

"You should open your eyes. The city's really pretty at night." By now, Sora had gotten them about ten stories off the ground. He felt Riku tentatively turn his head, then hurriedly tuck it back in Sora's hair. Sora was most definitely not complaining.

"Iaaytyu." Riku muttered darkly.

"What was that?"

"I hate yoooOUAH!" Riku screamed as Sora lifted off, flying them gently to the next building over. This time, he'd tricked his friend into having his eyes open for at least part of the flight, hoping he'd like the view, but Riku had responded by shaking uncontrollably. Sora frowned- he really _was _scared.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"No I am not ok!" Riku mumbled into Sora's neck. The hot bursts of air made his neck hairs stand on end, and his feathers shiver. He hoped Riku hadn't noticed, and bent down, attempting to get the other boy off his back. Hopefully, with a little bit of a break, Riku would calm down. But he refused to let go.

"Hey. I need a break. The building isn't going to collapse." Riku's thighs relaxed ever so slightly, but he still wouldn't get off. "Seriously, dude, you're going to flatten my spine." Riku was silent. "I'm not kidding. Get _off._" With a little hop, skip, jump and a mighty flap of his wings, Sora managed to dislodge his barnacle, but was quickly made to regret it when Riku yelped in pain as his wounded shoulder hit the ground.

"Oh, God, Riku, are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He certainly didn't look fine- he still wouldn't open his eyes.

"Riku, you can open your eyes- we're nowhere near the edge. It's just the top of a building." Riku mumbled something in Japanese and shook his head. Sora sighed. Now was not the time for some kind of phobic mental breakdown. "Look, I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me you were afraid of heights?"

"Gee, I don't know! Maybe because when you found out, you went out of your way to scare me?" Riku snapped.

"I thought you were just nervous about flying with _me_, not terrified of heights in general! I was trying to show you you weren't going to die!" As the words came out, Sora realized that they were true. "And hey, look, not dead!"

"Yeah, not dead _yet._"

"Jesus, Riku, I'm not going to drop you. Why would I do that? Give me one good reason why I would drop you." Sora was surprised at how badly his feelings were hurt, knowing that Riku didn't trust him. After he'd just spent an entire _week_ taking care of him. If he had any interest at all in hurting Riku, he'd have done it already. Hopefully Riku knew enough to realize that, at least.

"Well, you wouldn't do it on _purpose,_" he mumbled, already losing his resolve.

"Exactly. And do you really think I'm not strong enough to hold on to one sickly teenage werewolf? What, do you think the city has anti-Sora ballistic missles? _Nothing is going to happen,_" he ground out. "And unless you stop being a jerk, I'm just going to fly back to the church and leave you here."

"You'd never do that," Riku said quickly, eyes widening in fear.

"See? You _do _know me. So you should know I'd never drop you," Sora said triumphantly, outwitting Riku with his superior logic. "You just need to trust me, Riku," Sora said softly. "I can't help you find Botan Shimizu if you don't trust me."

"I never asked for your help," Riku shot back automatically, finally bringing his eyes up to defiantly meet Sora's. He realized his mistake before the words were even out of his mouth, and his petulant expression transformed into the slightest hint of a smile, the corners of his mouth twitching awkwardly. Sora just burst out laughing. Soon Riku joined in, the two boys' laughter ringing uninhibited over the silent rooftop.

"Oh my God. If you can't remember something that happened less than two hours ago, this is going to be a nightmare," Sora gasped, clutching his stomach, which hurt quite a bit both from the laughter and all of the flying.

"Yeah, well, um, at least my hair doesn't stick up in the back," Riku jeered, sticking out his tongue to punctuate his terrible comeback.

"You're an idiot."

"So are you."

"Ok, then." Sora and Riku looked at each other, and then burst out laughing again. So, this was what having a friend was like. Sora had finally made a friend- his first new friend in literal years. Their circumstances were somewhat less than typical, but hey, Sora wasn't picky. He wasn't about to write someone off just because he was a werewolf from Japan who got shot while wandering around New York City looking for a dead person. In fact, all of those qualities endeared Riku to him even more.

"I think I'm ready to go," Sora finally said, when they'd both calmed down. "You ready?"

"Uh. Give me a couple more minutes." Riku's eyes were of course open now, which was progress, but he still wouldn't move from the spot where Sora had dropped him.

"Ok. I'll go closer to the ground next time, I just came up here so it would be harder for people to see us." Riku nodded, liking that idea.

"You really aren't afraid of heights at all?" Sora shook his head. "What about… before?"

"Ha! No, never. Funny story- when I was eight, I decided I could fly, and jumped off my roof while no one was looking. I broke my leg and got to go to a military hospital. I was on crutches for the entire summer, but it was totally worth it." Sora smiled fondly on the memory. He hadn't thought about that day for a long time, the day he decided he could fly. Was that his wings, talking to him? They could, after all, talk, all on their own- they'd proven that time and time again, much to Sora's embarrassment and chagrin. He rustled them gently to remind them who was boss.

"When I was eight, I transformed for the first time," Riku said quietly. "Completely tore up my room."

"Oh." Sora wanted to ask if that was when Riku had been bitten, but balked at the dark expression on his friend's face. He knew from Leon that those sorts of things were a very sensitive topic, so he let it drop. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I'm used to it now." The two boys sat quietly for a while longer, Riku staring up at the blinking APDs above them since he was afraid to look anywhere else. Finally, he spoke again. "I'm ready to go if you are."

"I'm always ready," Sora grinned, getting down on all fours again so that Riku would be able to mount him. His eye twitched a little at the thought, and his groin perked up a little, before realizing that it was totally the wrong kind of 'mounting' and losing interest. Sora sighed- he was never, ever going to get laid. Might as well accept it.

The rest of the trip passed by uneventfully. Sora dropped down to about three stories off the ground, like he promised, and Riku relaxed some, though he still didn't like to open his eyes. They skirted Central Park easily, and within the hour, Sora had reached the neighborhood Riku had indicated on his map. The streets were completely deserted, so Sora dropped to the ground with a thump.

"We're here," he said softly. Riku slid off of him, voluntarily this time, and uncertainly teetered on his own two feet. "Do you recognize this place? I've never been this far north before."

"Not quite, but I could smell this kid from a mile away," Riku smiled weakly. "Seriously, he smells like moldy pineapple and stale bread. It's disgusting."

"So… I just leave you to it, and make sure you don't keel over, then?"

"You can look for magic."

"What do you mean?" Riku turned and looked at him, puzzled. Sora shrugged helplessly. He'd never really been around Others before, so he had absolutely no idea what Riku was talking about.

"Ok. You can feel me right now, right?" Riku began. Sora nodded- Others had a warmth to them, a certain energy that jumped out and distinguished them from ordinary humans. "And each Other is slightly different, right?" Sora nodded again. "That's because every Other's magic is different. This kid I met, the entrance to where he lives is in a gutter, disguised by magic. Just… feel for something that feels like a person, but isn't a person. Does that make sense?"

"Not at all, but I'll try." Riku apparently found that good enough, and they started down the street, Sora eventually supporting Riku with his shoulder. The neighborhood was completely deserted, and dark. He hoped no one was around who would decide to mess with a werewolf, but Riku didn't seem all that worried. "Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"What for?"

"Thanks for asking me for help. I know that can't have been easy… it means a lot." Riku was silent for a long time. Then he smiled, and nodded in acknowledgement. Sora smiled back, and they continued moving, until Riku stopped suddenly.

"Wait." Sora stopped too. "I smell him. He's around here somewhere."

"Hello, Sora." Huh? Sora turned around to see a small boy, couldn't have been older than 11, staring up at him, clad in some hideous bag-like garment constructed entirely of rags. This could not possibly be the guy that he had dragged Riku all the way up here to see. No way.

"Yes, I'm Kytes. Nice to meet you." Oh God- so he really could read minds? Riku hadn't made that up? "Yes I can, and no he didn't." Sora was suddenly terribly embarrassed about the horrible things he'd thought about Kytes's clothes, and his feathers ruffled up to show it. "It's ok, I don't mind." Riku snicked beside him, still amused at Sora's awkwardness even though he could only hear half of the conversation. Kytes smiled at him next.

"Nice to see you again, Riku Shimizu."

* * *

OH SNAP. Riku gave away his own last name several chapters ago, but no one commented on it, so I assumed no one noticed and figured I'd use the same cliffhanger again. Recycling is a good thing, right? Tune in for the next installment, wherein Cloud gets picked up by the NYPD for disturbing the peace.

Two, I am feeling prolific, yet tragically uninspired. This fic has eaten up all my inspiration juice. SO. 107th reviewer gets a free Kingdom Hearts one-shot, any pairing, your choice of plot and premise. Only rule is, "don't be an asshole." So, assholes need not apply. I'M LOOKING AT YOU KATTJEALOUS. ;)


	18. Chapter 18

Before we begin, I would like to give a shout-out to Finland. Seriously, I get so many frickin' hits from Finland, it's ridiculous. Y'all are even beating Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand! So, hooray for Finland, lovers of sci-fi thriller fanfiction written by me. ;)

I would also like to throw a shout-out to the good nation of Canada, for providing me with both Tim Horton's and Labatt Blue, the two main driving forces behind this fic. Thanks, Canada!

* * *

After the fact, Riku's mother often said that her pregnancy was the most miserable ordeal she had ever had the displeasure of enduring. Oh, sure, she loved her son and everything, but damn. Had she known she'd be incubating a demon-child, she never would have signed up for it in the first place. Her friends usually took her tongue-in-cheek humor in stride, knowing that Riku was most definitely an accident, as they say, and Naomi certainly hadn't 'signed up for' anything. Only a select few, however, had the privilege of knowing just how close to the truth the description of 'demon-child' really was.

The first indicator that something was wrong was how violent the morning sickness was. Naomi was so chronically ill that she had to take a leave from her job due to complete lack of energy. Then, almost as soon as she had begun to recover enough to go back, Riku had started kicking much earlier and much more intensely than he should have, like a caged animal struggling to break free. The pain was unbelievable. By the third trimester, Naomi was completely bedridden, barely able to wash and feed herself. Fortunately, her husband's profession being what it was, he was able to stay and care for her full-time.

Considering the difficulties in carrying the pregnancy to term, the actual act of giving birth was surprisingly easy. Naomi's water broke at home, Botan drove her to the hospital, and the entire process was over within a couple of hours. The doctors joked that the baby almost seemed desperate to claw his way out of her. They deposited the wrinkly little bundle in her arms, already wrapped in blue to designate him as _boy_. As for Naomi, all she could do was stare at her son's big green eyes, just like her own, and wonder how someone so beautiful could have caused her so much pain, the pain itself already a fading memory. She showed the baby boy to her husband, who was goofy with pride. He gently reached out to poke the newborn's belly, hoping the infant would grab onto his finger with his tiny hands.

Instead, Riku tried to bite him.

A few days later, Riku Shimizu was brought home from the hospital. All things considered, he was a fairly ordinary baby. He cried a little louder and a little stronger than other infants Naomi had known, but he also ate like a dump truck and slept like a rock, so she assumed her son just preferred to do things in extremes. As soon as his hands were strong enough, Riku took a liking to putting random objects in his mouth, so his parents bought him a few pacifiers, all of which he enjoyed quite a bit. Not that he would ever tell anyone, but Riku used his 'binkies' all the way up until second grade, when his last one got 'destroyed by the dog.' The look in his mother's eyes when she told him this made him suspect foul play, but 'for God's sake, you're seven years old!' and she wouldn't get him another pacifier and that was that.

So, despite the difficult pregnancy, the Shimizus were the very picture of familial normalcy. Naomi and Botan were so enchanted by little Riku that plans were already underway to give him a little brother or sister. Unfortunately, those plans were sharply dashed by Riku himself, though not voluntarily, at about four months, when he started to grow hair.

His dad was the one who discovered him, sleeping peacefully as if he hadn't a care in the world about the havoc his head was about to cause. In the poor lighting, Botan only saw the fuzz that covered Riku's scalp, fuzz that had not been there before, and he whooped with excitement, the way he always did when his son made some sort of miraculous development. He grabbed the boy easily in one arm and teleported into the kitchen, too impatient to remember that his preferred mode of travel may not be especially comfortable to an infant.

CRACK.

"Wha-? Oh, for the love of Jesus, you have to _stop doing that_, and oh my God, is that Riku!?" she gasped, quickly switching from fear to shock to anger and rushing forward to steal the baby away from her inept husband. The loud crack that accompanied the teleport had woken him up, and he was making confused, gurgly noises. "You teleported with a baby!? What is wrong with you?" She rocked Riku back and forth to calm him down, ignoring the fact that he wasn't actually upset in the first place. In fact, he had one of his rare baby smiles plastered across his face, and he was reaching his stubby arms over towards his father.

"Aw, come on, Naomi. See, he liked it," Botan defended himself. "Isn't that right, little guy?" Riku cooed happily and waved his hands. "See? The kid loves his dad," he said triumphantly. "And besides, I brought him out here to show you- he finally grew some hair!"

"Really!?" Now, the young parents were completely focused on their little bundle of joy, who positively glowed under all of the attention. The glow was quickly replaced by confusion as Naomi shrieked in surprise and Botan's eyes widened in fear. Riku began to cry, but this time, no one immediately rushed to comfort him. Instead, Naomi just bounced him automatically, too preoccupied to do much else.

"Why is it gray?" she whispered, her eyes automatically flickering to t he gray streaks in her young husband's hair. "Does that mean…" She choked, unable to finish the sentence. The possibility that Botan's condition would be able to be passed on had never even occurred to either of them. Sure, they'd spoken extensively about the chance that their child may be an Other, but not this. _Definitely _not this.

"No," Botan finally said. "No, it can't be. We would have heard about it, somehow, if… if it were possible."

"Maybe it's never happened before because normal women don't have sex with werewolves?" Naomi murmured, ignoring her husband's visible flinch. She'd sacrificed a hell of a lot to stand by him- she could speak frankly about it if she so desired. That was the agreement they'd come to. "Maybe we're the test case," she said bitterly. The difficult pregnancy, the violent mood swings- it all made sense. Horrible, sickening sense.

"It's probably an accident," Botan said desperately. "I mean, if he's- if he _is_, then he's only half. The hair color may be an accident of genetics."

"You can't be half werewolf any more than you can be half pregnant," Naomi snapped, once again saying the dreaded word. "People are born as vampires all the time." This was true, she'd read about it. She looked back down at her tiny son, still bawling pathetically, and she took a moment to calm him down. After a few minutes of rocking him back and forth, while her husband paced the kitchen, Riku's eyelids drooped closed and he fell back to sleep. Thank God he felt like being agreeable today- maybe he could somehow tell that all of the anxiety was about him? Her Riku. _My little guy…_

…was going to grow up as part vicious monster. "Botan… "

"Let's shave it," he said suddenly.

"What!?"

"You know how some kids have curly hair and then it turns straight? Let's shave it." He prepared to teleport, clearly planning to run to the bathroom and grab a razor and some shaving cream.

"You are not shaving Riku's head," Naomi said ferociously.

"But-"

"No."

* * *

Riku wouldn't find out how much that day had changed his life until much, much later. How his mother immediately ran out and bought an array of adorable baby hats so they'd be able to take him outside, gaining her a reputation as a baby fashionista. How the joking parent fights about whose alma mater he'd attend were replaced by clipped explanations about how he was a _quiet_ boy, and homeschooling would probably be best. How his parents sat down together and discussed for hours on end how and when they were going to tell him the truth.

Turns out, keeping the existence of werewolves a secret wasn't that difficult. Every month on the night of the full moon, Botan was locked in a specially-constructed cage in the basement to ride out his transformations. When Riku expressed concern about the shrieks coming from underground, his parents calmly and straight-facedly told him the basement was haunted. Since he had no friends around to tell him his parents were full of it, that was that.

Riku wasn't a stupid kid, however, and at eight years old, he knew enough to tell that something was off about him. Normal kids didn't have silver hair. Normal kids weren't homeschooled, and normal kids' dads didn't disappear for weeks on end. When he asked his father what he did for a living, he'd dodged the question and teleported Riku around in a circle until he'd been distracted enough to drop it. Oh, that was the other thing- most people's dads didn't seem to have super powers, or for that matter ponytails and hideous facial scarring. His mom seemed pretty ordinary, in any case.

Soft natural light poured through the window, illuminating the pages in Riku's book. His bedroom was the smallest in the house, tucked into a back corner, but it had enough windows to stay well-lit, and a good solid door with which to keep parents out. He usually kept it locked, too. He liked his privacy. And as long as he did well enough on his homework to keep Child Services off their backs, his mom let him have it.

Riku sighed, flipped his English book closed, and set it on his bedside table. The sun was setting, and he didn't want to turn the lights on just yet. He loved the view of the sunsets from his window, and he leaned back onto his pillows to watch. As the sun dipped below the horizon, Riku's eyelids began to flutter, and he drowsily settled into what he assumed would be a relaxing nap.

When he woke up, he was naked, and foreign hands were lifting him onto the kitchen table. Birds were singing outside the kitchen window- _is it morning already?_ Also, he was in pain. Lots and lots of pain, as if his body had just been taken apart molecule by molecule and then put back together again. He could smell blood.

"He's coming to," a foggy voice observed. Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand.

"Riku, baby, are you ok? Is he ok?" It was his mother. He tried to tell her he was all right, but instead, a wild snarl escaped his throat and he tried to yank his hand away. She shrieked and dropped it.

"It's fine, he's too weak to hurt anyone right now," the other voice said. Riku tried to see who it was- Mr. Kisaragi, a doctor from down the street. His mom must have called him when- when-

"Now, relax, son. We're just going to clean up some of these scratches," Mr. Kisaragi said soothingly. "He did this to himself- he must have gotten confused," he added, more quietly, to Naomi. Riku could hear her crying. The tears smelled salty. That smell was mixed with pungent antiseptic as Mr. Kisaragi opened up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Riku attempted to get away, but found he was in too much pain to actually move. The first drop of peroxide fell into one of his open cuts, and he hissed angrily. Wait, open cuts? _I did this to myself?_

"I think we should sedate him," Mr. Kisaragi was saying to his mother. Riku didn't know what that meant, but he saw the huge needle, and that was enough to thoroughly freak him out. His squeals reached a fever pitch as he struggled to escape.

"Sedate an eight-year-old boy? Are you insane?" his mother snapped. Riku whimpered and reached for her hand.

"He's not a normal eight-year-old, Naomi."

"You are not shooting up my kid with horse tranquilizer. I'll keep him calm," she said firmly, taking up Riku's hand, and this time refusing to let it go. He dug the claws on his other hand into the wooden table as Mr. Kisaragi went back to disinfecting the cuts on his legs.

"All right, but if he acts up again, we'll have to do something about it." _I'll be good, _Riku thought desperately. His strength was waning anyway. If the cuts were any indication, he'd lost a lot of blood, and he was beginning to suspect that he hadn't slept at all in the hours he'd been out. His head was spinning. With some effort, he turned his head to look at his mom. Maybe she could tell him what was going on.

"Mom," he rasped, his voice deeper than he remembered it being. She looked terrible- she _had_ been crying, and she clearly hadn't slept at all, either.

"Riku," she whispered. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." She reached up and gently stroked his hair, the way she always did when he was upset. Normally he'd make a face and try to pull away, but as it was, he was grateful. He wanted his mom.

"Mom," he tried again. "What happened?"

"He doesn't know?" Mr. Kisaragi asked incredulously. Naomi shot him a glare.

"I'll tell you everything, Riku," she whispered to him more gently, dropping a kiss on each of his eyes the way she'd done when he was a baby. "But for now, just focus on getting better, ok?" Riku nodded weakly, well, as close to a nod as he could manage, and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him away.

The next day, his mother told him about werewolves, and how his father was mauled by one a couple years before he was born. Riku never got a chance to ask his dad about it, because by that time, Botan Shimizu had already disappeared.

* * *

"Yuf-_fie_," Riku moaned. "I don't want to do this today." Since Botan Shimizu's disappearance, Riku's mother had taken to working full-time to support herself and her son. She did not, however, want her 14-year-old son to be alone at home all the time, and so had recruited 16-year-old Yuffie Kisaragi from down the street to essentially sit in the house with him. At the moment, Yuffie was standing on Riku's front porch, wearing two bags of fencing gear and a wickedly huge smile.

"Ok, fine, we'll watch TV first. But then, we fence!" Yuffie noisily dropped all of the gear in the foyer, and raced off towards the kitchen to make popcorn, like usual. The whole fencing thing had sort of been his mother's idea, anyway- apparently it was his dad's sport in high school, and during a bout of tearful nostalgia, he'd agreed to take it up. And oh, hey, your babysitter just so happens to be a local student fencing champion- she can teach you! And the rest, as they say.

"I hope there are some good soaps on!" Yuffie said excitedly as she rushed out of the kitchen with bowl in hand, and vaulted over the couch, somehow without spilling a single kernel. Riku always thought she ought to have been a gymnast. "I want to find out if Ji Wan's going to end up with that guy."

"Oh, she totally will. The real question is if he'll want to keep dating her once he finds out she's a princess."

"And that she's his cousin."

"Yeah." Riku rather boringly walked around the couch and plopped down next to his babysitter, tossing her the remote. Yuffie, Mr. Kisaragi's daughter, also from an Other family, had been 'babysitting' Riku since they were both practically in diapers, but it was usually Riku who found himself having to keep her from doing anything stupid. She was like a sister and a friend to him, and so he had appropriately dubbed her his 'sisterfriend.'

"Hey, sisterfriend. Pass the popcorn." Yuffie wordlessly handed him the bowl, enthralled by the Korean drama unfolding before her. The two sat in comfortable silence all the way until the episode ended, watching the wacky and comical misadventures of secret princess Ji Wan and her hapless friends and family. When it was over, they both let out satisfied sighs.

"Honestly, who writes this stuff?" Riku wondered.

"The most brilliant minds of our time, Riku. That's who." Yuffie grabbed the empty popcorn bowl and vaulted back over the furniture, jogging easily into the kitchen, and then somehow reappearing with all of her fencing equipment in less than a minute. Honestly, the girl's actions defied every sane law of nature, throwing vulgar hand gestures as they went.

"How did you do that!?"

"Easy. I'm a ninja!" she crowed, punching the air with her fist. "Now, get your gear on, brotherfriend." Yuffie's English was not terribly good, and despite hours of coaching from Riku, the word still came out as _bo-ru-da-fu-ren-do_.

"I told you, I don't want to."

"Too bad. Your mom's paying me to do this, so let's go."

"Dude, she'll pay you either way. Just lie and take the free money. It's not like I'd rat you out," Riku muttered, stretching out on the couch. He oofed loudly as Yuffie dropped a fencing helmet on his stomach.

"I can't steal from your mom! She's nice-lady Naomi from down the street! She's not like other people." Riku decided not to comment on her strange choice of words.

"I do _not _want to fence with you right now."

"Like I said, too bad. Let's go!" Somehow, Yuffie already had all of her own gear on, and was dramatically brandishing a sword at him. She never was the type for warm-ups.

"You _cheat_." It was true. Yuffie liked to distract him using her Other power- she could turn both herself and objects she touched invisible. She was one of the lucky ones, like his father, who could control what they could do. Her father, Mr. Kisaragi, on the other hand, just had physical abnormalities- on the outside he looked completely normal, but on the inside, all of his organs were completely upside-down and backwards and bizarre. It was a miracle of modern science that he'd lived to adulthood at all. That's probably why he decided to become a doctor.

"Do not! Besides, you can use your powers, too," she argued, bouncing around the room, a wild swashbuckler battling imaginary enemies, since Riku didn't want to play with her. She swiped at the TV and narrowly missed an expensive vase.

"I don't have any!" Nothing good, anyway.

"Man, you can turn into a wolf. Nothing you do or say will ever convince me that that's not totally awesome." Riku could hear her grinning through the fencing mask, and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, Yuffie." He pulled his own mask on and grabbed a sword, swinging it up just in time to block Yuffie's lunge. "I don't even have my vest on yet!"

"A true warrior is always on guard!" she cheered, once again punching the air with her free hand as she leaped back to prepare a second assault. Her body slid effortlessly into the fighting stance, the sword gracefully sweeping through the air as if it were weightless. She made everything look so _easy_. This time, however, Riku was ready for her, and he blocked all of her strikes without too much difficulty.

"Very good! _Now_ you may put your gear on," she said solemnly, as if wearing fencing gear was a holy privilege that had to be earned. Riku rolled his eyes and dug through the bag to find the rest of his stuff. He was just finishing getting dressed when he heard a tiny sizzle, and whirled around- Yuffie had decided to make herself invisible. Well, great.

"Do we have to do it this way? You realize I don't know any of the actual rules of fencing, right? If I were in a real match, I'd be disqualified in about ten seconds." Yuffie ignored him and kept right on with her mysterious ninja shtick.

"Eyesight is but the light piercing the shadows of your mind!" she chanted, the sound moving in circles around the room as she did.

"That doesn't even mean anything!" Riku complained.

"Focus! Mind over matter!" Riku groaned, but did as he was told, closing his eyes. He could smell his opponent just fine, and he could hear her sock feet prancing around his living room. The easiest course of action would be to just stand there and wait for her to attack him, so he decided to do just that.

After a few long minutes, the prancing stopped, and he heard her weight shift to face him. He clutched his sword a little tighter. Then, she started running towards him, and with a smirk, he swung the sword up to block. Unfortunately, the weapon swished helplessly through empty air, and a split second later, something was gently poking him in the face.

"Tag! You're dead," Yuffie grinned, as she sizzled back into visibility.

"Ok, that's it. I'm done." Riku tore off all of his gear and plopped back onto the couch, arms crossed to prove that he meant business. Yuffie swept off her own fencing mask, releasing her short hair, and kept right on grinning at him.

"You are getting better, you know. The first time I pulled the invisible thing, you _cried_, remember?"

"Yes, I remember," Riku muttered darkly.

"And besides, learning to fight is a good thing. Life skills, and all that."

"Fencing isn't fighting! It's like- it's like dancing, with swords."

"Ooh, how poetic! You'll make some nice girl very happy someday, Riku." She winked at him. "Or some nice _boy_." Riku blushed and looked away. How did Yuffie know him so well? Desperate to fight off his blush, he looked around at the living room, effectively destroyed by their impromptu match. Pillows were strewn everywhere, and a couple pieces of furniture were knocked over. Funny he hadn't noticed before.

"You know, if my mom knew that we did all of our practices in here, she probably wouldn't pay you to teach me anymore."

"Well, then, we just won't tell her," Yuffie said, the slightest hint of a threat in her voice. Riku snorted and chucked a pillow at her; Yuffie caught it and threw it right back. "She'd never let you stop fencing, though. What your dad would have wanted and all that. It's hard to believe it's been almost six years since he went missing." Riku frowned.

"Went missing?" he asked quietly. "They told me he died." Yuffie realized her mistake too late, and her eyes widened as she bit down on a particularly aggressive fingernail.

"Well, I'm sure he is dead, what with him being gone so long and all," she babbled, apparently not focused on how sensitive she was being. "But my dad- my dad told me, they never got a report. Or even found a body," she finished more quietly. Yuffie's dad was involved with the same mercenary guild that Riku's had been- he was one of the Other doctors they had on call. Of course he would have been involved if there was a death.

"Never found his body," Riku repeated.

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry. I thought you knew. I've been a bad sisterfriend!" Yuffie wailed. Riku couldn't help it- the display made him laugh.

"Don't feel bad. You're right… if we haven't heard from him in so long…" He sighed, and didn't finish the sentence. Yuffie clearly didn't know what to do, and she kept on biting her nails.

"Would you like a hug?" she finally asked, timidly.

"Yeah, sure," Riku smiled. Yuffie enveloped him in her trademark uncomfortably tight, Yuffie-style bear hug, and like usual, Riku held on until he had to signal that he couldn't breathe. "Thanks," he wheezed.

"That's what sisterfriends are for!" she said happily. "That, and being rad fencing teachers. Maybe you'll get to go to the Olympics someday."

"They canceled the Olympics. I saw it on the World News."

"… Oh. Well, in that case, you can just beat up bad guys, like me!"

"Sounds good, Yuffie."

* * *

"_Look, I don't know the details. Just know, they did look for him. He was one of the most talented and prestigious assassins they had. But something happened in New York- something the Guild didn't want to get mixed up in. So they decided it would be better if…. they let him go."_

"_So, he's still alive, then."_

"_Listen, Riku. Don't do anything hasty. Whatever they found out about, they want it hidden. I'm sure they'd stop you if you tried to do anything, and who knows what they're capable of?" _

19-year-old Riku replayed Mr. Kisragi's words in his head, as he leaned casually against one of the many crates littering the shipyard, waiting for the right time to sneak onto the boat that would take him to New York. Two days before, he'd transformed. After the transformation, he slept a few hours to recover, waiting until his mother was out of the house, and then he'd gotten dressed. At the last minute he remembered to stuff his hat into one of his coat pockets. The other pocket had his father's last box of Lucky Strikes.

His father was alive.

Riku had spent enough time close to the guild and Mr. Kisaragi to learn the basics. Botan Shimizu was hired for a job in New York, and when he didn't come back, they tried to contact him, mostly since the client didn't want to feel that his money had gone to waste. Riku didn't much care for his father's work associates, and he got the distinct impression that they didn't like him, either- his father, after all, had had his teleportation abilities to redeem himself, but Riku was straight werewolf. The guild wasn't interested in making him a member, and he wasn't interested in being one.

Keeping all of that in mind, however, he still had no idea what they'd try to do to him if he left and tried to find his dad. The guild tended to protect its own interests, and the impression he got was that whatever had happened in New York, they were desperate to keep it a secret, or at the very least deny any relation to it. They definitely had an investment in making sure Botan Shimizu stayed missing, and it wasn't like they would hesitate to kill one little werewolf. Well, he'd just have to make sure they didn't know he was gone, then.

Before he'd left his house, Riku had snuck into his mother's room and stolen her map of New York City, the one she'd saved from when she went to the city as a little girl. He looked at pictures, too. New York was just an island, was all it was. Just one small island, that held all of the answers to what had happened to his father eleven years before. Call it superstition, but somehow, he just _knew _his dad was still alive out there somewhere. He would have _felt _something when his father died, right?

Riku heard a ship chugging up to the dock, and he peeked out from behind his crate. That was it- the ship going to the United States. He'd thought everything through before he'd come down here, but it was still unnerving. He timed it so he'd leave right after his transformation, and the trip was only supposed to take about ten days, so he didn't have to worry about going full werewolf in an enclosed space. And he could always just beat up anyone who found him hiding. Still, though, he could feel apprehension building inside of him. He'd barely even left his _neighborhood _before, and now he was about to travel halfway around the world on his own. Well, you only live once. He snuck out from his hiding place and jogged silently across the deserted shipyard.

_You're in that city somewhere, and I'm going to find you._

* * *

Ooo, Riku flashback. How edgy. :D Tune in for our next installment, wherein Yuffie shows up in NYC to challenge Sephiroth to a gentlemen's duel, Sora beats up the guy who stole Cloud's bike, and Xigbar shoots me in the butt and lets me bleed to death for making him Riku's dear old dad in a fanfic. Violence abounds.

'Sisterfriend' comes from a cryptic greeting card my sister and I saw in a Duane Reade (the NYC pharmacy chain- ooo, I should write a Duane Reade into this story!), that simply said 'SISTERFRIEND' in one word on the front, and was blank inside. My beta suggests that it was meant as the ultimate rejection notice, ala 'He's Just Not That Into You.'

Remember, kiddos, 107th reviewer gets a free one shot! También puedo escribir en español, si prefieres. :D Oder Deutsch, aber mein Deustch ist ein bisschen schlecht geworden, also vielleicht ist das nicht so 'ne gute Idee...

**REVIEW PLZ**


	19. Chapter 19

Congratulations to the winner of our little review contest, 107th reviewer LiteraryMirage! She has requested a Zexion/Demyx fluff piece with one or both of the main characters saying "What are you _wearing_?" I've already started writing it- the working title is "Really Bad Clothes," and it involves a Starbucks. That's all I'm sayin'. :D

I would like to continue the shout-outs this week by giving a big HEY-O to the good nation of Sweden. I get a lot of hits from there, too- clearly the Scandinavians know where it's at. My neighbors are Swedish, they're pretty cool, and they like to chop wood, is that a Swedish thing? Anyway, thank you, Sweden, for teaching me that life is demanding without understanding, and for dragging me up to get into the light where I belong. ;)

And, of course, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. I love reading your comments. Y'all are what make Erased great. (Er, if you could call fanfic great.) Speaking of which, hmm, we ain't seen Kairi for a while. I wonder what she's up to?

* * *

Kairi had been called up to meet with her boss, for the first time since their volatile meeting a week previously, and for the first time since she had run her diagnostics and since Seth Corvus had gifted her a new apartment. In short, a lot had happened, and she had no idea what to expect. Ansem Wise couldn't stand her, she knew that much. She thought less-than-fondly back on their first meeting.

_Kairi Smith. An unusual name,_ he'd said.

_Yeah, my family's a little weird, _she'd said back.

_I'm sorry to hear that, _he'd said.

_Well, it doesn't really matter. They're all dead now. _She got the job.

The elevator let out its happy little ping, and Kairi resented it. She stepped out into the waiting room for Ansem's office, offering his secretary a tiny wave in greeting. She wondered how much the secretary knew about their boss's job. Asking her would, of course, be suicide. The woman smiled at her and called into the office, murmuring a few quick sentences, and then gave Kairi a thumbs up and gestured towards the door. She went in without knocking.

"You rang, sir?" she said cheerfully, hoping for a slightly less stuffy conversation than normal. Ansem wanted her dead, anyway- her choice of words wasn't going to do much to change that opinion.

"Ah, yes, Miss Smith. Please, sit down." The last dregs of her desperate hope for normal conversation went screaming out the window. "I trust you've found your new accommodations comfortable?"

"Yes, sir." She tried desperately to hide her disappointment, not in the apartment, but in once again being forced to put 'sir' at the end of every sentence. "Please give Mr. Corvus my thanks."

"That won't be necessary," Ansem huffed, and Kairi noted his displeasure with interest. The owner of the company had, after all, gone behind his back to suck up to her. Was he still angry that he got overridden?"He would like to meet with you personally. You will be able to thank him yourself." Wait, _what?_

"Really? When!?" Seth Corvus was a man of legend. The thought of meeting him terrified her- what would he want to talk to her about? "Uh, sir."

"I don't know, he didn't say. He only mentioned that he would like to both meet our star technician, and see the lab for himself," Ansem said irritably, with undue force on the word _star_. Definitely still angry at getting overridden.

"Wow. That's… wow," was all Kairi got out.

"Yes. It is very 'wow.' You should consider yourself lucky that Mr. Corvus has faith in your abilities."

"I do, sir," she said truthfully. She did not, after all, want to get dead.

"As you know, we received the diagnostics on the Naminé program from both you and Penelo. He was very impressed by her computing power. She is absolutely flawless." Despite herself, Kairi felt a little swelling of pride. Naminé _was _flawless, and having that recognized by the wealthiest man in New York was a little satisfying.

"Thank you, sir," she said happily. Yes, pride was her sin of choice.

"Mr. Corvus is concerned, however, that her access codes are too complicated, and change too often. We would like to be able to speak to her more easily."

"The codes are for security," Kairi said, frowning. She even forgot to put a 'sir' at the end. Naminé could protect herself just fine, of course, but she still didn't want any schmuck off the street to be able to waltz in and have a chat with her. The girl's feelings were delicate.

"We will handle security, Miss Smith. You don't need to worry about your program being compromised." Ansem's voice was a little snippy. Apparently, he thought he'd been condescended to. Oops.

"Ok. As soon as I get back down, I'll change the access code to… NAMINÉ. Does that work, sir?" she asked, overly politely. Ansem frowned.

"That sounds perfect. Make sure you make the change as soon as possible."

"It's done, sir." Ansem sighed, and stood, pacing over to one of the large windows behind his desk. One of the APDs was floating a little close to the building- the wind must be strong today. Kairi tried to remember what wind felt like.

"I trust that there haven't been any more blow-ups within the system?"

"None, sir." Not strictly true, but nothing that anyone besides her, Naminé, and occasionally Penelo would need to know about.

"Very good. In that case, Mr. Corvus has also instructed me to brief you on his new pet project. We may have a new direction for our research." Ansem sat dramatically back down in his oversized executive chair. Kairi just stared.

"A new direction, sir?"

"Mr. Corvus is very interested in the progress you've made in memory modification," Ansem clarified, leaning forward with his hands folded. "He is interested to know… if you can work the opposite way."

"What?" Kairi had a feeling that she knew what that meant, but she was hoping against all hope that she was wrong.

"He would like to know if you can _add_ memories, the same way that you take them away, if you will." The last dregs of Kairi's hope came back to life and jumped out the window again.

"You mean- like, programmable people?" she asked stupidly. Her life was becoming a sci-fi dystopia. Well, more than it already was. But no way would she do _that_. No fucking way. _That _was the stuff of sci-fi horror. _That _was modern-day slavery.

"In a word, yes. Do you think that this is possible?"

"Even if it was, would we really _want _to? And what for?" she hissed, clenching her hands into fists. Ansem raised an eyebrow.

"I asked a simple question, Miss Smith," he said evenly, the threat evident in his eyes. Kairi took stock of her options. Ansem Wise wanted her dead; Seth Corvus wanted her alive. Seth Corvus wanted her to create peoplebots, for God knows what purpose. If she said no, Seth Corvus would have no reason to keep her alive, and Ansem Wise would be delighted to finally get rid of her. She couldn't say yes. So that left-

"I would have to talk to Na- to Penelo, but... it might be." Ansem sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Strictly off the record, Miss Smith, this pet theory is why Mr. Corvus decided to overrule me and keep you on the team. He thinks that this research might result in some profitable avenues for the company, and for whatever reason, he believes you have a talent that we wouldn't be able to replace easily. So, let me ask you again: do you think that that is possible?" Kairi took a deep breath, and swallowed her soul, her conscience, and her heart.

"Yes," she bit out. "Yes, it should be. Anything we did would be too dangerous to try on more than one person at a time, though. We would.. need to test it first." She choked.

"Very well. You have my permission to test it, whatever that entails," Ansem said casually, with a wave of his hand, as if he were discussing dog-walking.

"And I'll choose the first subject, then, _sir_?" The last word came out sharp and hateful. She would, of course, let Naminé choose who to experiment on- Naminé would know where to do the least damage while giving the illusion of progress.

"Yes. You know them better than we do. Avoid any dangerous mishaps, though, please." As if modifying their memories wasn't a dangerous mishap.

"Ok," was all she said. She sat there for a long moment, staring at Ansem. Dread and hate knotted themselves in her stomach until they became almost unbearable. What the hell was she going to _do_?

"You're free to go," he said finally, with the slightest of glares.

"Ok. Goodbye." Kairi stood stiffly, and slowly turned and left the room. She ignored the receptionist's goodbye, even while waiting almost ten minutes for the elevator to come. 104 floors was a lot of floors. Finally, she heard that hateful little ding, and stepped inside. Like usual, the box dropped her into the basement, much more quickly than was comfortable. Well, she was in a hurry. She broke into a jog.

_Naminé. Naminé, we have a problem, _she called out at a distance, hoping Naminé would be ready to talk to her by the time she got to the lab. Better to brief her on everything on the way, that would save time. _Ansem wants us to find out if we can plant false memories in the Nobodies. Do you think that's possible? Is there any way we can fake it? _Kairi tore into the lab.

Naminé wasn't there waiting for her. In fact, the entire computer system was shut down. The three techies were present, tinkering with various parts of the machine. Hayner was disappeared underneath a particularly large piece of apparatus, with only his legs showing, Olette had taken a screen off of one of the monitors and was fiddling with something underneath it that Kairi didn't recognize, and Pence was lovingly cleaning a piece of machinery he'd taken out of the printer. When she banged in, all of them looked up to stare at her, except Hayner, who couldn't be bothered. Penelo was conspicuously absent.

"Where is N- Penelo?" Kairi snapped, almost slipping up and asking for Naminé again. She caught herself just in time.

"It's cleaning day," Pence shrugged.

"No programmers allowed!" Olette said with a playful grin, wagging her finger.

"Plus, we just don't like you guys," Hayner muttered from somewhere inside the computer. Olette kicked him and he yelped in protest.

"How long is everything going to be shut down?" Kairi asked quickly. She didn't have _time _for this. She needed to talk to Naminé. All of their lives potentially depended on it.

"Probably only a couple more hours. What do you need to- Kairi?" But she was already heading out the door.

"Hey, boss, you ok?" Pence shouted after her. She didn't respond. If she couldn't talk to Naminé, Penelo was the next best thing. Sure, she didn't like the girl much, but she was too distressed not to talk to someone, and Penelo would have to be in on whatever she decided to do. Kairi broke into a jog, heading back upstairs a couple floors and towards the area where her old room had been. Penelo's room was at the very end of the hall, and Kairi marched right up, pounding on the door rather aggressively.

"Penelo!" She was too distressed to deal with manners. Luckily, Penelo was home, as it were, and Kairi heard her moving around. Now that she was here, she realized that she had no idea what she was actually going to say. Penelo would have to be in on whatever she and Naminé ended up deciding to do, of course- she would have to find out about Ansem's proposal eventually. So, it couldn't hurt to talk to her about it, right? Kairi was spared any more thought on the subject when she heard the _click _of a lock opening on the other side of the door.

"Oh, the queen deigns to come down from her castle?" she grumbled, yanking the door open. She'd clearly been napping- her eyes were sleepy and her braids were all messed up.

"Shut up, Penelo. I mean, don't shut up," Kairi said agitatedly, waving a hand. "We've got a problem, and I can't talk to Naminé because the hardware team is doing something stupid."

"It's cleaning day. It happens every month."

"Whatever. The point is, I just got back from talking to the big guy, and he wants us to test and see if. Um." Kairi couldn't bring herself to even say it. And to think, not half an hour before she'd all but _agreed _to it.

"You woke me up just to complain about your job?" Penelo sighed. "Don't you do that enough already?"

"No! I mean, that's _not_ why I came down here!"

"Bye, Kairi." Penelo rolled her eyes and moved to close the door. Kairi reached out and grabbed it to stop her.

"Wait! It's important." The shorter girl sighed dramatically, and offered a tragic '_why me?_' expression up to the ceiling.

"Ok, fine. If what?" she said expectantly, crossing her arms, clearly still pissed about being woken up. Kairi had no idea what she was asking.

"Uh. If what what?" Penelo leaned forward and spoke slowly and patiently, as if she were speaking to a very small child. Or her boss. Kairi would have been offended if she weren't already so upset.

"You just said 'he wants us to test and see if.' If what?" Oh, right. That. Kairi took a deep breath, and spat it out all at once.

"Essentially, what they want to know is if we can program the Nobodies to do our bidding." She felt sick.

"That's…" The look on Penelo's face finished the sentence for her.

"Exactly," Kairi said grimly. Penelo pushed her door open the rest of the way, wordlessly inviting Kairi to come inside. The room looked exactly like Kairi's had looked- a tiny twin bed and a rack to hang standard-issue lab clothes. The tiled floor and white walls were clinical and cold.

"What did you tell them?" Penelo asked, as she sat back down on her bed. Kairi stayed standing- she was too agitated to sit.

"I said… I said I had to talk to you about it first."

"And then what?"

"I said we'd have to test it on one person first to see if it were possible, and he gave me the authority to choose who we were going to experiment on," Kairi whispered, closing her eyes. She wanted to sit down, now, very badly, but she couldn't. Not next to Penelo.

"Are you shitting me? You _offered_?" Penelo hissed.

"Penelo! He threatened to kill me if I didn't make it work. Ansem _hates _me- he's wanted me dead practically since I got here. You want to do my job? Be my guest."

"I don't want your job," she said quietly.

"Good, because I don't want it either. Ansem wanted to sack me a couple weeks ago, but the owner overruled him."

"Seth Corvus?" Penelo asked, her eyes widening in recognition. Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"What, you know him?"

"Ah, no, just the name." Kairi decided she would accept that answer, for now. It was plausible, in any case- Seth Corvus was the wealthiest man in New York. His name was on everything.

"So, apparently, high-and-mighty Mr. Corvus gave me that new room to get back at Ansem for threatening to fire me. The two of them are having some kind of twisted power struggle, and _I'm _the battlefield." She paused, expecting a response.

"That sucks," Penelo supplied cooperatively.

"Yes. Yes, it does. But hey, you might be getting a promotion pretty soon," Kairi muttered.

"Don't say that. Don't be so morbid."

"Heh. It's hard, sometimes." Kairi flipped her hair, trying to lighten the mood, but Penelo wasn't about to let it drop. Stupid girl.

"Remember when you swore you were going to live? That was only, what, a week ago? Way to give up." Kairi shot her a glare, and grabbed her bag, pulling out her beloved and well-worn flask. She couldn't even remember what she'd put in it, and she didn't even care. Ignoring Penelo's judgmental eyes, she twisted the top off and took a long swig. Vodka. Cheap vodka, if the burning in her throat was any indication. Oh well. The booze would make her brave.

"Since when do _you _care?" she snapped, in true Kairi fashion.

"Yo. I may not like you very much, but that doesn't mean I want you murdered."

"Ha! I'll drink to that," Kairi grinned, taking another deep swig of cheap-ass vodka. She remembered that she'd gotten it in a plastic bottle. Small wonder it tasted like sock sweat.

"Where do you even get all that stuff?"

"It's all about knowing the right people, dearie. You want some?" She offered Penelo the flask. Much to her surprise, the other girl accepted.

"Yeah, sure." Penelo took a tiny sip, and immediately doubled over, hacking as if her lungs were on fire. "You _drink _this?" she gasped.

"It's better than the alternative."

"Which is?"

"Doing my job sober." Kairi rolled her eyes. "You think I could deal with this shit sober?" Surprisingly, Penelo laughed.

"I'll drink to _that._" She tried again, tipping the flask back and taking a long drink, this time keeping everything down, without coughing. Wiping her mouth, she handed the booze back to Kairi, who drank again. The two girls passed the vodka back and forth until it was gone, and the cold room was taking on a warm, hazy glow.

"Dude. Are we _bonding_?" Kairi giggled stupidly. She bent down and pulled two beers out of her bag, both wrapped so as not to make any noise while she walked. She cracked one open with her teeth and handed it to Penelo.

"We might be." Penelo accepted the drink, and Kairi cracked open her own beer. How to open a beer with her teeth was the best thing she ever learned in high school.

"That's a little scary," she smiled.

"Try a lot." Both girls burst out laughing. They clinked their warm beers, and drank quietly for a while. Kairi felt good. She'd chugged the disgusting, cheap vodka fast enough to actually be a little tipsy, not that she'd ever admit it. Penelo seemed to be feeling it, too, if the way she was spilling beer on herself was any indication. Kairi leaned on the wall and grinned like a drunk. How could she have worked next to Penelo for six months and not know anything about her?

"So, uh, Penelo," she began, unsure how to phrase a question like this. Finally, she decided on the brutally straight-forward approach she usually took. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Who were you before you came here?" Penelo looked over at her, an unreadable expression on her face, beneath her reddish, drunken cheeks.

"The same person, as far as I know," she smiled. Kairi almost never saw her smile. The smile was nice.

"You know what I meant," she grinned, poking Penelo in the shoulder.

"I was a war orphan. I lived on the streets and ate garbage," she shrugged.

"No family at all?"

"One stupid brother," she said, holding up her forefinger to demonstrate. One stupid brother.

"Does he know you're here?" Kairi asked quietly.

"… Yeah. Yes, he does," Penelo nodded.

"Hmm. I'm jealous." Kairi leaned back against the wall with a sigh, enjoying the feel of the cool tiles against her back. The beer in her hand was almost empty, but there were more in her bag. They were the reason she _carried _a bag.

"Jealous? Why?" Kairi didn't answer. "Who were _you _before?"

"Also a war orphan. Before that, I was a perfect little middle-class Brooklyn genius." She waved her hand dramatically in the air to punctuate _middle-class _and _genius. _

"You're from Brooklyn too?"

"Guilty as charged," Kairi sighed, leaning down to pull out another beer. Penelo wasn't anywhere near done with hers yet.

"Heh, maybe we lived at the same orphanage," Penelo laughed.

"I think I'd remember someone like you," Kairi said softly, drinking from her bottle.

"What?" But Kairi was talking to herself more than Penelo, now. She looked up at the institutional track lighting.

"I miss my parents. I miss the life I had," she whispered. "I don't want to live like this. And once I get out, what then? I have no résumé to speak of- as far as the world is concerned, I don't exist. You don't just start randomly start existing after X number of years." A long pause.

"I never knew my parents." Penelo said emotionlessly. She chugged the rest of her drink and reached for another.

"Sorry," Kairi said simply. She knew what it was like to not have parents. There wasn't really anything to be said to make it better.

"Don't be. Vaan's enough." Penelo held out her new beer to Kairi's mouth, and Kairi obligingly bit the top off.

"Vaan?"

"My brother."

"Ah." Kairi got tired of the wall, and leaned over, stretching herself across Penelo's single standard-issue pillow. Not terribly comfortable. She was grateful for her new queen-sized bed. That thought brought her back to Shinra, which brought her reluctantly back to the problem at hand. "So, now that we're tipsy enough to think clearly, what are we going to do about the whole programmable-peoplebots thing?"

"I vote wait until tomorrow to deal with it," Penelo declared, raising her beer.

"That's a good idea."

"My ideas are always good," she said smugly.

"Yeah, whatever." Kairi turned back to her beloved alcohol, taking another long drink, years of practice allowing her to drink lying down without choking or spilling. After a moment, Penelo leaned over and poked her arm.

"Hey, can I ask _you_ a question?"

"Sure. Shoot."

"What's your power?" Well, that wasn't what she expected. But, Kairi obligingly closed her eyes.

_I'm psychic, _she thought, sending out the message to the other girl's brain, expecting the usual connection to open up between them. Unlike usual, however, the connection didn't happen. Instead, the words _I'M PSYCHIC _popped loudly and angrily back into her head, causing her to shriek in surprise and grab her temple.

"What the fuck?" she shouted.

"What? What did you just do?" Penelo leaned over, worried. "Oh, I'm sorry, I should have warned you- magic bounces off of me." She chuckled. "That sounds really stupid, doesn't it."

"Magic bounces off of you?" Kairi asked curiously. "That's… whoa." And, that explained perfectly why Kairi had knocked herself out when she tried to force Penelo to leave her alone. Her own abilities had bounced back on her, amplified, and made her pass out. Well, at least she didn't need to have any fear of Penelo accidentally picking up on her communications with Naminé. "I tried to tell you I was psychic in your head," she said, pointing to her brain with a finger, "but then I shouted back at myself." She giggled. "Well, that's it. I'm psychic. Pretty boring. Yours is way weirder."

"I know, right? It's totally crazy." Penelo laughed at herself. Kairi finished her second beer, and went for a third, but Penelo went on talking. "And then, my twin brother, you know, Vaan, he can't be injured. I mean, you could back over him with a car and he'd just get up and walk away. We're kind of a weird family," she finished, still giggling. Kairi didn't miss the way she lit up while she was talking about her brother.

"You really miss him, huh," she said quietly.

"Yeah, I do." Kairi smiled and shook her head.

"I'll drink to that."

* * *

Zexion fidgeted anxiously in his seat, refusing to eat his food. Roxas was peaceful and quiet for once, but Axel was looking at him. How much of the commotion in the dorms he'd heard, Zexion didn't know. He just wanted to know that Demyx was ok. Whatever he'd shown him, whatever he'd been doing in his dream, was clearly terrifying. No wonder his brain didn't want to remember. Zexion was afraid just thinking about how he couldn't remember it.

"Zexion, are you all right?" Roxas asked rather suddenly, jerking his head up. He surprised Axel, too.

"I want to see Demyx," Zexion frowned. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Axel. He looked around. "Why isn't Demyx here?"

"He woke me up, just now. And then, I- I-" A sharp pain shot between his temples. Zexion groaned and clutched his head. What was this?

"Zexion, are you all right?" Roxas asked again. Zexion managed to shake his head. Something was wrong. He couldn't tell what, exactly, but something was poking at his brain with a thousand tiny needles- something foreign. He felt like a child who just touched a stove, like he'd just reached out at something he wasn't supposed to touch and now the hurt was slapping his hand away. But wait- feeling that way would mean someone was slapping him inside his mind. That thought made the pain spike, and he groaned again, dropping his head to the table. He couldn't think about anything now, at least, not anything coherent, and he lay there stupidly, swimming in pain, and wondering why he would be punished like this for thinking about-

For thinking about-

For thinking about?

For thinking. The pain faded away. Zexion felt empty.

"Hello, Demyx," Axel said politely, as if Zexion had not just had a breakdown in front of him, or perhaps because he was trying to hide it. Roxas didn't acknowledge the newcomer at all.

"Hi, Axel. Hi, Roxas. Hi, Zexion." Demyx sat down and ate his oatmeal quietly. He always ate more than anyone else. Zexion himself didn't feel like eating, and for some reason, he felt sad. He lay dejectedly on the table, ignoring his own breakfast as it grew cold.

"Zexion, are you all right?" Roxas asked for a third time. Axel looked over at Roxas, confused, and Demyx didn't even look up from his bowl. Wasn't it usually Demyx who worried about him? Maybe that was why he felt sad. Roxas wasn't having a good day either, apparently, since he'd only said one thing all morning.

"I'm fine, Roxas. Thank you for asking," Zexion said nicely, finally lifting up his head a bit. Roxas smiled happily. Everyone else had finished breakfast, and the bell rang for everyone to leave. Everyone, that is, except Zexion, who couldn't be bothered, and Roxas wouldn't leave until he would.

"Come on, Roxas," Axel ordered, tugging at his friend's arm. "Zexion, we're going to be late."

"I'm coming," said Zexion, rather unenthusiastically. That seemed to satisfy Roxas, who grabbed onto Axel's hand and let himself be walked away. Zexion sighed. He didn't want to move. Before long, he was all alone in the cafeteria. Well, almost.

"Hello, Zexion," greeted a deep voice that he wasn't used to hearing.

"Hello, Luxord," he answered, without getting up.

"Are you all right?" Zexion sighed. Why did people keep asking him that? Luxord continued speaking.

"Did she get to you?" Wait, what?

"Who is 'she'?" Zexion asked.

"She's everywhere. She makes us see things that aren't there. Like you," Luxord explained cryptically.

"I'm… I'm not here?"

"You're here. But you won't be. Don't forget about me when you're gone." On that note, Luxord walked out of the cafeteria, not even looking back. Zexion stared after him. _She makes us see things that aren't there. Like me. _That was his power, after all- the power of lies. All of this thinking was making the headache creep back, but this time, Zexion was prepared for it.

"No. You're not real," he said out loud, as if that would help. And it did. Simply reminding himself that the pain wasn't real didn't make it go away, but it stayed back, pacing, but far enough away that Zexion was able to collect his thoughts. Apparently knowledge _was _power. Now, what was he trying to think about before?

_Demyx. What I did to Demyx, and if he's ok._

Zexion took off at a run, racing out of the cafeteria. After breakfast, everyone would be running. He sprinted down the bare hallway to the door that he knew led to the training room, and he tore it open, running inside and searching frantically for Demyx. The boy was jogging on a treadmill more or less in the center of the group.

"Demyx!" Zexion shouted, not caring that he disrupted everyone's exercise. Demyx stopped running and looked at him curiously. "Demyx," he repeated. "Demyx, please tell me what you saw. You need to tell me what you saw!"

"What I saw when?" Demyx asked, his eyes darkening slightly in confusion.

"This morning," Zexion gasped. "I grabbed you, I know I did, and I used my powers on you and you saw something that scared you, didn't you? Please, just tell me what it was!"

"I don't remember," Demyx said slowly. "This morning I talked to Professor Naminé . She's nice."

"You woke me up while I was dreaming, and I used my powers on you. I know it happened! You were so scared-"

"No… I don't think so…"

"-please, Demyx, try to remember!" Zexion shouted frantically. The pain was building in the back of his mind again, like something was reaching out, trying to stop him. Professor Éniman was walking towards him.

"I ate breakfast. You and Axel and Roxas were there," Demyx said stupidly, listing off all of the things he'd done that morning.

"You really don't remember?" Professor Éniman grabbed his arm. "Please, Demyx. Please try. I need to know!"

"Would you like to lie down, Zexion?" The pain was becoming unbearable. The room was spinning, his knees were shaking. _No._

"No, I don't want to lie down! I want to talk to Demyx!" he snapped, and tried to yank his arm away. "Demyx, please!" The other boy stared back at him with wide blue eyes. The rest of the students kept on running, like they couldn't even see what was going on. What _was _going on?

"Enough," Professor Éniman said flatly. And everything went black.

_Zeke McLane fell forward onto his knees, stumbling over some rubble. He heard shouts behind him- the soldiers must have noticed he was missing. Ignoring the blood and the hurt seeping from his skinned knee, he swore a little too strongly for an 11-year-old and struggled back up to his feet. He had to keep moving. At this point, it obviously didn't matter if his school uniform got messed up, anyway._

_He'd seen the explosion. He had to get to her._

_Wasn't the war over? Everyone had told him the war was over. And New York City had been mostly untouched up to this point, anyway, so why attack it now? He glanced up at the smoke rising from the broken Brooklyn skyline, and pushed himself to run a little bit faster. For all he knew, he was already too late._

_The elementary school was only five blocks from the middle school, but the run felt like it took forever. He hadn't noticed where the soldiers were from, and he couldn't care less. He didn't look behind him to see if he was being chased. One kid couldn't do anything, anyway. They probably expected he'd be blown up within the hour._

_Zeke reached the school. Luckily, the building itself was mostly intact. He had to clap a hand over his own mouth to stop himself from throwing up, or screaming, or both. The schoolyard was littered with bodies, people who'd tried to run away, charred and mangled victims, adults and children. He forced himself not to look for her among them. She was a smart girl- she would have stayed inside. The adrenaline was shooting through him, making his thoughts both clear and unclear all at once, but his feet remembered where the 5__th__ grade classrooms were. With one final breath, he dashed into the damaged school building. _

_He found her inside, just like he thought he would. She was hiding, but he found her anyway. She was crying. Now that they were together, he didn't know what to do. But that was it, right? Being together was the important thing. He pulled her into a hug, and she grabbed onto him tightly._

"_Are we going to die?" she whimpered._

"_Just close your eyes," Zeke whispered, not answering her question. "It'll be ok. Just pretend you're somewhere else."_

"_Like where?" she asked softly. Her eyes were already closed._

"_Like… that swing set you like. Pretend you're on the playground," he said, trying to hide his own fear. Almost on its own, one of his hands reached up to touch her hair. "Just try to picture it. The playground, the buildings. The sky." Zeke pictured it, too. The image in his mind was powerfully vivid, enough so to overpower the reality that he'd just seen. She didn't need to know what her favorite place looked like now. Maybe she'd never even get a chance to find out. Better to hold on to the beautiful lie._

_As he thought about the playground, a strange thing began happening. His fingers dug into her hair a little more tightly, and the image consumed him, overwhelming his senses and drowning out the broken school. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and let out a soft little 'oh.' Then, her eyelids fluttered shut again, and a small smile appeared on her face. She relaxed into his arms. _

"_I can see it, Zeke," she murmured. He didn't know how or why, but he knew. She was seeing what he was thinking. _

_He held her close and focused with all his will, as hell rained down around them._

* * *

OH NOES TEH DRAMA.

Tune in for the next chapter, wherein Sora flies into a window, Riku finally gets a new binkie, I throw a party because Dollhouse (the show that, ah, somewhat loosely inspired this fic) got taken on for a second season, and Cloud and Leon are at long last reunited in a glorious crescendo of vamptastic, leathery goodness. That last part wasn't made up, they actually are going to finally meet each other again next chapter. Huzzah!

Q OF THE DAY: Who do you think Naminé is going to, er, experiment on?


	20. Chapter 20

Sorry this update took longer than usual and is a little shorter than usual- I've been watching the original Digimon series and drabbling ideas for Mimi/Lillymon slashfic. DON'T JUDGE MY CHOICES.

Ahem.

OH MY GOD CLOUD AND LEON ARE FINALLY REUNITED. Enjoy!

* * *

"Nice to see you again, Riku Shimizu." Sora's eyes widened.

"Riku _Shimizu_? Don't you mean…" Sora trailed off. Riku wasn't meeting his eyes. "Your name's Riku Shimizu?" Riku nodded, still without looking up. Sora's eyes narrowed. "Leon was right. You lied." Riku jumped back at the accusation, as if Sora's words had physically hurt him.

"What? No- it's not like that! I had to!" he said quickly. Kytes was moving his eyes from one to the other, his face completely expressionless. _Yeah, Riku lied to me. Yeah, I'm mad about it. You can read my thoughts. Big whoop, _Sora shot out, glaring at him. Kytes stared right back. Deciding it wasn't really worth it to fight with both of them, Sora returned his attention to Riku.

"You lied," he said flatly. Riku sighed.

"Ok, yeah, I lied. I'm sorry." Sora shook his head. Leon had said he was lying- Leon had _known. _And Sora had defended him! Oh, no, he can't be lying, he'd said. Figures that Sora's only friend would be a _liar _with a debilitating life condition. He was exhausted from carrying Riku's sorry butt all over town, and he didn't have the energy to deal with him now.

"I'm going," he announced quietly, and he turned and started walking away. He tried to be dignified, but he couldn't walk very fast, with his wings dragging on the ground. His body was built for the air. Riku ran after him easily. His shoulder didn't seem to be bothering him at all anymore, or at the very least he hid it well.

"What? Sora- wait! Sora!" Sora ignored him. Time to take to the air. He opened his wings and flapped upwards. Riku was still running after him on the ground. "SORA!"

"Go away, liar!" Sora screeched. Riku broke into a sprint- **werewolves were fast**! But Sora was faster. He pushed higher.

"I had to lie!" Riku shouted from below. "Geez, Sora, don't be an idiot!"

"_You're_ an idiot!" he screamed back. Ok, not the best comeback ever. Sora banked, shot upwards, and flipped gracefully onto the roof of a nearby building. He'd have to double back if he was going to lose Riku- the guy was being much more persistent about this than he'd expected. Usually, no one interrupted his dramatic exits, and most of the time they even took place in tiny enclosed spaces. He crouched down and peeked over the edge of the building's roof. Riku was still standing in the road- he must have figured out that Sora had pulled some aerial maneuvers, because he was sniffing the air delicately, trying to find which direction he'd gone. Sora grumbled and turned around, flapping back in the direction of Leon's church. He'd done what Riku wanted, after all- now he could go home. Leon was probably worried.

Just as he fluttered over to the next roof, he heard a familiar sound. His entire body froze, and he perked up his ears. He knew that sound! _Cloud's bike!_ Sora dove off of the roof and flew urgently towards the source of the rumbly noise. Cloud's motorcycle wasn't in the best working condition, so it had a series of grinds and clicks that gave it a very unique vibe. After years of spending most of his days waiting eagerly for Cloud to get home, Sora would know that sound _anywhere._

"Cloud!" he shouted. "Cloud, do you hear me?" He was now close enough to see the bike, and the rider's wild blonde hair. He flapped higher to give himself more speed. "Cloud!" If he went into a dive, he would pick up enough velocity to pass the bike, and maybe get him to stop. He snapped his wings close to his body and shot towards the ground, leveling out mere feet from the pavement. Rocketing past the motorcycle, he twisted his body around in a vaguely painful manner, so he'd be able to face the driver's seat. Unfortunately, said driver was most definitely not Cloud, and most definitely not expecting a giant winged menace to drop down on him from above.

"Holy piss!" the boy shrieked, and he simultaneously slammed on the breaks and swerved to the side. Cloud's poor bike couldn't take the pressure, and the combined movements caused it to lose control, careening wildly to the sidewalk before it lost its balance, bucked its rider, and slammed into a dumpster, finally ending in a pathetically mashed-up heap of mechanical innards, one free wheel spinning wildly, a huge cloud of steam rising up like a white flag of surrender.

All of this took less than five seconds, but Sora watched as if it were happening in slow motion. Cloud's bike was completely destroyed, and the rider was dead. _Oh my God. Did I just kill someone? _

"Sora!" Riku's voice. He'd run straight towards the sound of the crash. "Sora, what happened?"

"He crashed," Sora whispered. Riku ran up beside him, panting and visibly pale. So his shoulder _was _still bothering him. They both stared at the body. Something didn't seem right. After a long moment, the boy moved. Sora gasped in shock. The boy who just seconds ago had seemed dead was now standing up, and dusting himself off as if he'd fallen off a scooter and not a speeding, out-of-control motorcycle. He turned to look at Sora, and his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"What the _hell _is your problem?" he demanded. Sora blinked in surprise. Not only was he speaking with an apparent zombie, but the zombie was asking him what _his _problem was? Now that they were face-to-face, Sora couldn't believe that he'd ever thought this guy was Cloud. He was blonde, sure, but the similarities stopped there. For one, this guy was too young, and much too gangly- Cloud was better proportioned, and wore nicer clothes. Plus, the new kid's hair was completely the wrong type. The shade of blonde was closer to straw than Cloud's gold, and it was too well-kept, slightly wavy and lying gently against his head, the way hair should. Completely opposite of the Strife boys, whose hair stuck straight up for no apparent reason.

"Shouldn't you be dead?" Riku asked stupidly. At least he was confused, too. Sora finally found his own voice.

"What's _my _problem?" Sora asked indignantly. "What's _your _problem? Where's my brother?"

"What are you talking about?" the kid said irritably, apparently choosing to ignore Riku's question. "You just knocked me off a motorcycle!" Oh, wasn't _that _the accusation to end all accusations.

"You knocked _yourself _off a motorcycle! My _brother's _motorcycle! Where is he?" Sora shouted.

"I don't know whose bike that is! I just _found _it! Why are you even up here?" the boy yelled back.

"Forgive me, I didn't realize Morningside Heights was off-limits to Winged-Americans!" Sora found himself unconsciously leaning forward onto his toes to meet the other boy's eyes, and still coming up way short. Stupid tall people! He had breadth on his side, though- his wings were up and out, and fluffed up for maximum size. Hopefully he was cutting an imposing figure.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" the zombie snarled. Then he noticed Riku for the first time. "Holy piss, are you a werewolf!?"

"You just fell off a speeding motorcycle and you're still wigged out by werewolves? Jesus," Riku muttered.

"Stop dodging the question! _Where's Cloud_?"

"Up in the sky? Look, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You-!" Sora finally lost it, and lunged at the other boy. He didn't pause to consider that picking a fight with someone who could withstand falling off a speeding motorcycle without even a scratch was a bad idea. Zombie Kid punched him straight in the jaw, but Sora used his wings to keep himself from sprawling. He growled viciously and pulled back his own fist-

"Stop it." Kytes randomly appeared from the shadows of the dumpster that the bike had crashed into. The new kid obediently dropped both of his hands, but it was too late for Sora to stop. His fist connected with his opponent's face, and he shrieked in surprise when the boy didn't even flinch. After that, he too obediently lowered both of his hands. Riku reached out to restrain him, but Sora brushed him off easily.

"Thank you," said Kytes evenly. "Sora, he's telling you the truth. He really did find the bike, he really doesn't know anything about your brother. Vaan, Sora has no idea what you're talking about. He doesn't live with us." Vaan shuffled his feet awkwardly, huffed, and looked away. Sora was focused on Kytes.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked suspiciously.

"He's telling the truth," Riku said quietly.

"You're _definitely _not telling the truth," Sora snapped.

"No, he's telling the truth, and so am I," Kytes repeated. "No one's lying to you."

"Argh! You're making my head hurt!" Sora complained, tugging irritably on his bangs. He couldn't _deal _with these people. And knowing that Riku had continued to lie to him about his name, even after they'd become friends, even after he and Leon had nursed him back to health…! Sora was getting angry all over again. His fists clenched.

"Seems like that's not very hard to do," Vaan muttered. Sora and Riku both shot him a glare. Wait, _Riku _glared? Why was he trying to stick up for him? He _lied._

"I don't need you to stick up for me, you know," he said.

"I'm going to do it anyway," Riku argued, and that was that. Sora couldn't deal with him right now. That was why he'd tried to leave in the first place! And now he was stuck, and Cloud was out there somewhere, completely without a mode of transportation because this jerk took his bike. The resentment festered inside of him. He sighed and shook his head.

"Look, we're all tired," began Kytes. "Let's go home and talk there."

"Where is home?" Sora asked sullenly. His hope at seeing his brother was slowly oozing out of him. Cloud's bike had turned up, but the man himself was still missing in action. But that didn't make sense- Cloud would _never _give up his bike! He was going to be heartbroken when he found out what happened to it. But what if something bad had happened to _him_? He needed to go find Cloud, but he couldn't do it tonight. He was exhausted. Kytes's suggestion was actually sounding pretty good- he was always up for free stuff.

"A gutter," Riku explained. "At least, it looks like a gutter from the outside."

"It's pretty nice for a gutter," Vaan defended.

"Other people live with you?" Riku asked curiously.

"You'll see," said Kytes, with one of his weird smiles. Without another word, the four of them set off, back towards Kytes and Vaan's gutter. Vaan didn't even have a limp- it was as if the crash hadn't even happened. Riku, on the other hand, was looking absolutely terrible. His wounded arm hung uselessly at his side, and he was clearly in a lot of pain. Sora wanted to help him, but stopped himself. No. Riku Fancy-Pants _Shimizu _could help _himself_ this time.

Getting to their gutter took much less time than Sora had expected- apparently, he'd flown in a big circle. This must have been where Vaan was headed on his stolen bike. The entrance to their home really was a gutter- that was no exaggeration. Kytes went first, and he bent down and opened the grate. Sora blinked in surprise. Underneath the grate was a staircase- a simple staircase, nothing fancy about it. Were there random people wandering in off the street or sometihng?

"Only Others can see it," Kytes said suddenly, and Riku and Vaan glanced at each other and then Sora, wondering who Kytes was talking to. Sora and Riku stared uneasily down the damp staircase, and Vaan rolled his eyes and went down first, not even pausing to look back or wait for them. Kytes, on the other hand, waited by the entrance patiently, smiling at both of them.

"Here we are," he said warmly. "Welcome to Lowtown."

* * *

Leon stepped out of the shower and toweled his hair to get rid of some of the water. Then he wrapped the damp towel around his hips. He wasn't really a hair-wrapping kind of guy- his hair was always the same messy, well, mess, no matter how hard he tried with it, so he'd just given up. Not that he'd be able to appreciate it if he looked good, of course, but in high school he'd wanted to try to look good for Cloud. See how well _that_ had worked out. He had good skin, at least- never a single zit or anything, and since he couldn't go outside, there was no sun damage. His face was just as smooth and clean as it had been when he was a kid. In any case, a lot of the stress was gone after the bath- vampires got very few pleasures in life, but long showers were definitely one of them. Now he needed to get dressed, but Riku was still in his room. Leon sighed, grabbed onto his towel to hold it quite firmly in place, and knocked on his own door.

"Hey, Riku. I need to get dressed. I'm coming in, ok?" Riku didn't answer. "Riku? You ok?" Maybe he was just asleep. Leon grabbed the knob and turned it slowly. The kid was recovering, after all, and he didn't want to scare him. Something didn't feel right, though. Once the door was open enough, he peeked around the edge, and blinked. Sure enough, Riku wasn't there.

"Riku? Sora?" he called, walking over to the kitchen, still dripping water all over the wood floors. They were disgusting anyway- he'd given up taking care of them a while back. The boys weren't in the kitchen, either. Maybe they were downstairs? Leon felt his stomach clench.

"Hey! Riku! Sora!" he shouted, this time more forcefully, trying to deny what he could already feel. They weren't in the church. Damn kids! Before he could go looking for anyone, though, he had to put some clothes on. Leon ran back upstairs and into his room, pulling on some jeans and a t-shirt. His jacket was downstairs already, so if he just grabbed that too-

Someone knocked on the door.

Leon groaned. God, was someone coming to him with work again? He needed the work, but he also needed to find Sora and Riku, but he also needed the work. Cloud had stopped sending him money, so he'd been feeding Sora himself, not that he'd ever tell the kid that, and finances were getting a little tight. He shouldn't have eaten that pizza. While he was thinking, his visitor banged on the door again, this time more aggressively.

"NYPD! Open up!" a rough voice shouted. Leon groaned deeper. _Why me_? Every couple months, the NYPD would show up and point out that he didn't own the building he lived in and that it should be rightfully condemned anyway, considering that there was a hole in the roof. Then Leon would bribe them and they'd go away. The system worked pretty well for both groups, but he did _not _want to deal with them tonight. Unfortunately, if he didn't, they'd seize his church. So, he had to suck it up.

"Coming," he shouted, trying to hide his irritation, and he tromped over to the door, grabbing his jacket on the way. Something was wrong tonight, though. He didn't put his finger on what it was until he got closer, and his Other senses started to kick in. One of the cops was a vampire. He stopped. Why would they send a _vampire_? Did that mean they'd figured out what he was? Wait, did they even _hire _vampires? On top of that, the stench coming through the door was enough to make his head spin. What, they didn't have a shower down at the police station? He got out his snort of disgust, then pulled open the door.

"Hello? It's-" He stopped. He stared. He swallowed, hard.

"Does this belong to you?" one of the two policeman sneered. Between them they supported a rather pathetic-looking person, suspended by his elbows, too weak to support himself, reeking of last week's breakfast. His head was down, his blonde hair was tinged brown with dirt, and his scent was masked by the heavy smells of filth and vampire, but there was no mistaking who it was.

"Cloud?" he whispered.

"Ah, so you _do_ know him?" the bigger cop jeered. "We picked him up 'cause he was attacking some old lady's dog." Leon processed this information rather slowly. Cloud. Vampire. Attacked a dog. Old lady. NYPD. Cloud. Vampire.

"We can't do anything with him, being what he is," his partner lamented, clearly wanting nothing more than to do something unpleasant with Cloud, "but we looked in his wallet and he had this address. Since you know his name, he's officially your responsibility now."

"Wallet?" Leon asked stupidly.

"Here," said the first cop, and he chucked the object at Leon, clearly expecting him to catch it. The wallet hit Leon right between the eyes and fell uselessly to the floor. He didn't even bother to bend down and pick it up.

"Well?" said the second cop impatiently. "Are you going to take him, or should we dump him in the subway?"

"Ok. I'll take Cloud," he said distantly.

"Here you go!" With a mighty shove, the two men tossed Cloud into the church. The force pushed Cloud's head back, and Leon saw his face for the first time. His eyes were open, but clearly unseeing, glazed over, with the pupils dilated and the irises bathed in a faint unnatural blue. As he stumbled to the floor his head lolled to one side, revealing two crusty bite marks that had bled profusely and never been treated. Bones jutted out from his face and his usually form-fitting clothes hung off his slender frame, indicating that he hadn't eaten in God knows how long. Cloud made no motion to stop himself from hitting the floor, and hit the ground with a dull thud. Leon stared for a long moment, then suddenly jumped into action.

"Cloud? Cloud!" He dropped to his knees and grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Cloud! Talk to me! What happened? Cloud!" Cloud responded with an involuntary little moan.

"Ahem." Leon glared up at the two policemen, still standing in the doorway.

"Thanks for bringing him here. Please go," he hissed. Cloud looked terrible. He needed to eat something, quick- he might die.

"Wow, is that a hole in the ceiling? That doesn't look up to code at _all_," the first man drawled, indicating the hole with a pointed finger.

"Do you even own this place? We'll have to see your documentation," the second man said with a wink, extending his hand. Leon's eyes narrowed, but he realized he didn't have a choice. The faster these guys were out of here, the better, and it wouldn't do to be homeless _and _have an invalid friend. He gave Cloud's shoulder a final squeeze, stood, and fished his own wallet out of his back pocket.

"Forty dollars apiece sound good?" he asked coldly.

"Make it sixty and we were never here," the two policemen chimed happily. Leon rolled his eyes, handed over the bills, and waved unenthusiastically as the two men disappeared into the night. Then, he slammed the door and turned back to Cloud's prone form. Cloud hadn't moved at all, and his eyes still weren't registering anything in front of him. Leon waved a hand just to be sure, and when he didn't move, he sighed and grabbed Cloud around the middle. Careful not to crush anything since Cloud was so frail, Leon picked him up off the ground and gently moved him towards the back of the church.

"Cloud, come on, you need to eat something," Leon muttered, finally giving up and picking his friend up bridal style. Cloud would kill him if he knew, but he didn't, so no harm done. "You look like shit. When did this happen?" He tried to keep the panic out of his voice. Cloud could hear him, he was sure of it. He just needed to act normal. "What, you thought I was so cool you wanted to try being a vampire yourself?" The words sounded hollow, even to him. He couldn't joke about it.

First Leon turned towards his bedroom, but then he realized that was a bad idea. Feeding Cloud was probably going to be incredibly messy, so he needed to put him somewhere that would be easy to clean. He finally decided on the bathroom, and he deposited Cloud in the bathtub, putting a towel behind his head to keep him comfortable. Cloud was too tall for the tub, so he had to artificially bend his legs to get him to fit. The awful smell was completely overpowering- Leon supposed he'd have to try to wash him- his stomach flipped at the thought. But first things first, he needed to get Cloud some food.

"Wait here, Cloud, I'll be right back. I'm going to get you some food," he assured his unconscious friend, and he jogged off to the kitchen. Once he was away from Cloud, he let the panic consume him. So _that _was how Cloud had disappeared. He hadn't abandoned them after all. Though he would vastly prefer that for his friend than the alternative. Vampirism was a condition with which Leon was intimately familiar, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone. Cloud shouldn't be going anywhere _near _vampires, well, besides him, of course. He knew better! What on Earth _happened_?

Leon shoved the refrigerator open and grabbed the nearest blood bag. Hopefully Cloud would know what to do- he clearly hadn't eaten anything since he'd been turned. How long had that been? A week? A week and a half? Leon turned and raced back to the bathroom, where Cloud was still snoozing in the tub.

"Hey, Cloud," he said quickly. "I brought you some lunch, so-"

"Food!" Cloud screamed, and his eyes snapped open. His fangs came out and he lunged at Leon, or rather, the bag in his hands. Leon squeaked and let go, but not soon enough to stop Cloud from shoving him into the sink. He yelped in pain when his back hit the porcelain, but Cloud had already lost interest. The blonde vampire was crouched in a corner, leaning against the toilet and sucking noisily at the blood he'd stolen. Leon watched him with a mix of horror and fascination. _Oh, Cloud…_

Cloud finished and tossed the bag away, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. His entire body relaxed visibly, and he sighed and leaned against the wall. His eyelids drooped.

"Uh, Cloud? How… are you feeling?" Leon asked awkwardly, still rubbing the bruise on the small of his back. Cloud's eyes opened a little bit, and he looked up at Leon curiously. Then, his eyes widened, and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Cloud? What-" Before he could finish the question, Cloud hurled. _Really _vomited. Projectile, too. The undigested blood splattered directly down Leon's front, covering him in red ooze. Leon gaped, then screamed, then looked up at Cloud, prepared to ream him. Unfortunately, Cloud stopped him in his tracks the most effective way possible- with tears.

"…Squall?" he whimpered, his eyes seeing, really seeing, for the first time since he'd been unceremoniously thrown through Leon's door. Huge drops of water were gathering in the corners of his eyes, and he even sniffled. Leon had read about this- apparently, the huge hormonal shifts in becoming a vampire resulted in mood swings with the power of menopause and adolescence combined. He'd never seen it in action before, though, and seeing Cloud so emotional was… _weird_, to say the least. Cloud knocked him out of his thoughts with a wailing sob, and threw himself at Leon, wrapping his arms around his middle and burying his face in his bloody t-shirt. The smell of filthy Cloud combined with the stomach juices and the blood was enough to almost suffocate him, but he couldn't leave his friend now, so he held his breath and sucked it up. Cloud sobbed against his middle.

"I'm so hungry," he whispered pathetically. Suddenly, his head jerked up and he started trying to lick blood off of Leon's shirt.

"Whoa. Don't do that," Leon giggled. His tummy was ticklish, not that he'd ever admit it to anyone. "Come on, Cloud, let's go to bed."

"Hungry."

"I know, but you'll feel better if you get some sleep."

"I already slept. I'm hungry."

"Yeah, well, you're also pukey," Leon argued, and Cloud snorted against his stomach. "Come on. Bed." Cloud was too weak to keep fighting, so he slumped miserably into Leon, and allowed himself to be dragged away towards the bedroom.

* * *

The first half of this chapter was so totally betaed over the phone, with me reading the whole thing out loud at about 1:00 AM. I hope my apartment neighbors heard me. LOL. Also, if you can believe it, in the original version Kytes took Riku to Lowtown in Chapter TWO. In this version Riku didn't even _meet _Kytes until what, chapter six? Seven? Yay for revisions and suspense-building. On top of that, as of this chapter we are OVER 100,000 WORDS. Oh my God... I'm one of those people! But it's been loads of fun. Thanks guys :D

Tune in for the next chapter, wherein Sora flies to the top of the Empire State Building to beat his chest and swat at airplanes, and Roxas tells everyone that he's leavin', never to come back again, 'cause he found somebody who does it better than they can.

Q OF THE DAY: Who's your favorite character in this fic? We might have done this already, I don't remember. Anyway, mine is Kairi. I hope it's not too obvious in the writing. :D


	21. Chapter 21

A longer gap between updates than usual- sorry guys. On the plus side, I FINISHED LiteraryMirage's oneshot! It is indeed titled Really Bad Clothes, and you can get to it from my profile and stuff. Ne'er let it be said that I don't keep my promises to write silly one-shots! :D

* * *

Larxene had long since stopped jogging on her treadmill directly between Marluxia and Saïx. Everyone else had, too. Professor Éniman caught Zexion on his way towards the ground, and seemed not to notice that everyone was watching her. Demyx spoke first.

"What happened to him?" he asked, eyes glazed, vaguely covering his mouth with one hand to hide his surprise. He looked completely lost.

"He was tired. He went to sleep," Professor Éniman said soothingly. "Don't let Zexion worry you. He'll be back at dinner." Larxene accepted that explanation- she got tired sometimes, too. Professor Éniman walked Zexion out of the room without further comment.

"Bye, Zexion," Roxas said quietly, with a little wave. Axel shushed him.

Larxene's treadmill whirred back into life, and she began running again, her two best friends following her example. All of the treadmills were of course set to a standard speed, so Larxene was working the hardest, then Marluxia, then Saïx, by far the tallest of the three. Luxord was a few treadmills away on the other side of Marluxia, shuffling along in a dazed power walk. Axel, the tallest of all of them, barely had to jog at all. Clumsy Roxas kept stumbling into the handles, and Demyx was staring at his feet as he ran. The treadmill next to Demyx was conspicuously empty. The absence of one of their members gave the room an oppressively silent feel- they were _never _separated. Never. The seven of them were like a spider missing a leg, teetering uncertainly at the edge of its web.

"Do you really think he just got tired? He seemed pretty upset," Marluxia mused, whispering so that only Larxene could hear him.

"He was probably upset because he was tired," Larxene said. She didn't like to talk while she ran, it disrupted her concentration. Marluxia and Saïx and Luxord were always trying to start conversations with her when she didn't want to have them. That on top of the strange looks she got from everyone in the shower were enough to make her very irritable, indeed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Saïx whispered loudly from Larxene's other side.

"Marluxia thinks Zexion was upset, not tired," Larxene summarized.

"I don't know, he just seemed like he was tired," Saïx said.

"See? Saïx agrees with me," Larxene told Marluxia.

"What? I didn't hear what he said," said Marluxia.

"Demyx is acting strange, do you think he's tired too?" wondered Saïx.

"Remember that time he came over to talk to us?" asked Larxene.

"Everyone's all in pieces," Luxord jutted into the conversation.

"Shut up, Luxord," Larxene and Marluxia shot back.

"I guess we'll find out at dinner," sighed Saïx.

"Everyone's missing something. Something got taken away," Luxord wailed.

"Yes. Professor Éniman took Zexion away, because he was tired," Marluxia explained again. Larxene sighed. This conversation was going nowhere, just like all of the others. Something about this place, here at Twilight Town Academy, something was making her restless. She was going round and round in circles, and she had too much energy and nothing to do with it. She couldn't talk about how she felt with Marluxia or Saïx, they wouldn't understand, just like they didn't understand why her body was different from everyone else's. As she was thinking, her hands and fingers began to twitch. No, that wouldn't do. She had to clear her mind and focus on getting rid of the energy. Larxene doubled her pace, and closed her eyes until she couldn't see anything at all.

* * *

Penelo awoke the day after Kairi's impromptu visit with her feet where her head should be and her breath reeking of stale alcohol. Kairi herself was nowhere to be found, but Penelo didn't remember her leaving, either. Her boss had been considerate enough to leave all of the empty booze bottles, however, so the entire floor was covered with garbage and broken bits of glass. At least she was still fully clothed- that was one concern she didn't particularly want to be concerned about.

_Ugh. How did she get me to drink so much? _Penelo was due in the lab, but she decided it would be better for everyone involved if she stayed put for a while. Her headache was so bad it was pushing down on the bridge of her nose and forcing her eyes crossed. No, today was not a good day. Maybe she should just stay in bed forever. No one would notice, right?

Two hours later, Penelo awoke again, feeling marginally better. She was still fully clothed, and her floor was still covered in bottles. A shower would probably help the headache. Tentatively, she swung her feet around and carefully lowered them to the floor. The institutional lighting was making her eyes burn. So, squinting, she felt her way over to the door, and stumbled out into the hallway.

No one else was around, most likely because they were all at work already. That was good, because she'd have the bathroom to herself. The warm shower water immediately washed away the aches and the terrible alcohol smell. Penelo stayed in the shower for a full forty minutes, indulging herself in one of the few pleasures left in Shinra's basement. She supposed alcohol would be another one. Two pleasures all in one day! How indulgent.

After the shower, Penelo allowed herself to take more than twenty minutes to get dressed. Her outfit only had six pieces- underwear, bra, standard-issue dress, lab coat, and two shoes- but still, she decided to take breaks between each piece. She was just so _tired. _She couldn't deal with Shinra today. Maybe Kairi was onto something with the whole alcoholism thing? Her boss had been more honest with her than ever before- and _still _Penelo knew next to nothing about her. They were both from Brooklyn. Well, great. Brooklyn's fucking huge. That was no help at all!

All she did know was that Kairi was in danger from Shinra. Penelo felt awful for not realizing it sooner- of course Kairi would have external pressures on her. Just knowing that made the girl seem not so bad. The peoplebots thing, though, that was too far. Penelo's stomach churned at the thought, or maybe that was still the hangover. In any case, she had to convince Kairi not to go through with it. Together they'd figure out some way to throw off the higher-ups.

Penelo pattered down to the lab and stopped outside the door when she heard Kairi's voice.

"What? Are you really sure he's the best choice?" Kairi was almost certainly talking to Naminé. Penelo frowned and leaned in closer.

"Yes." Naminé's voice.

"But… he's so unstable." Penelo's heart was sinking. They couldn't be talking about what she thought they were talking about. Could they?

"Piecing together a broken mind would be much easier than dismantling and reassembling a whole one." Naminé was as cold and clinical as always. Penelo clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out. No, Kairi couldn't really be doing this. No way.

"You do think this stuff through, don't you, Nam," Kairi said softly. "How're you going to do it?"

"A combination of accelerated memory triggering and suggestive implanting. The memory is malleable. It is difficult for ordinary humans to see the difference between genuine memories and false ones," Naminé said smoothly. Penelo held her breath. She counted sixty-two heartbeats before Kairi spoke again, her voice small and quiet.

"Yeah. You're right. Ok, do it." _What!?_

"You are satisfied with my choice?" No. No no no no _no_!

"Yes," Kairi said, her voice small. "You're the boss, Nam."

"I will start right away." Penelo shoved the door open and ran inside.

"You _can't _be serious!" she shrieked. Kairi turned and looked at her, confused. Her eyes were bloodshot, almost certainly from alcohol. Naminé was behind her, staring impassively out from the computer.

"Good afternoon, Penelo," Naminé said politely. Penelo switched her eyes frantically between the two women, almost to the point where they began to blend together. Kairi's face was completely blank, her eyes distant. Penelo settled on Naminé. In seven steps she was across the room and clutching the monitor, leaning directly into the blonde girl's face.

"You can't do this. You _can't_," she cried. "Please. We'll think of something else!"

"I must go. Goodbye, Kairi. Goodbye, Penelo." With a tiny smile, Naminé vanished from the screen. Penelo screamed in frustration, and turned on Kairi.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" For the first time, Kairi met her eyes. Penelo blinked in surprise. She was completely sober. The hazy blue light coming up from the floor made Kairi's blue eyes unbearably bright, paled her skin almost to transparency, and brought out the intense purple hidden in her hair. She looked ethereal, a creature undead. Those eyes… they were haunting, at once hard, desperately lost, and unbearably sad. Was this who Kairi actually was? Without the alcohol, beneath her fearless leader persona?

"I'm leaving, too," Kairi said lowly. "Finish the stats for me? If you need me, I'll be in my room." Without another sound, she turned and left. Penelo stared after her until the floor lights started hurting her aching eyes. Wait.

"Kairi!? Who is Naminé going to experiment on!?" she shouted. Kairi didn't hear her.

* * *

Axel sat Roxas down into his seat, with a little bit of difficulty because Roxas didn't feel like sitting down. Finally, he gave up and just let Roxas come to get food with him. He didn't let Roxas carry his own plate, though, instead opting to hold both high above his head and well out of the shorter boy's reach, using the food as bait to lure Roxas into his proper seat. Satisfied with his handiwork, he sat down himself, and dug into his corn and mashed potatoes.

"Demyx?" Roxas wasn't touching his own dinner, instead poking Demyx's plate with his finger. Demyx was staring downwards, and swaying gently back and forth, completely insulated from the world around him.

"Demyx?" Axel looked at Demyx as well. He was ignoring both of them. When Roxas started poking his plate harder, Demyx closed his eyes and started to hum.

"Don't worry about him- you need to eat your own food," Axel told Roxas. Roxas sighed, but obediently switched to poking his own plate, delighting in the noises the ceramic made as it scraped against the table. Well, it was progress.

"Hello, Demyx." Demyx's eyes snapped open, and he looked up. His entire face brightened immediately. Zexion was standing behind his own usual seat, fingering the back of the chair nervously. His eyes were flitting around the room. "Hello, Roxas. Hello, Axel."

"Zexion!" said Demyx, the first time he'd spoken since Zexion had left that morning. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Zexion sat down. He hadn't gotten a plate of food- he just stared at the table uncomfortably.

"Why aren't you eating?" asked Demyx worriedly. He took his own untouched food and pushed it in front of Zexion. "You should eat mine."

"I'm not hungry," Zexion said. Axel watched them curiously. Demyx had been completely silent all day, and now that Zexion was here, he was acting like his usual self. Axel looked down at his own empty plate, and then over at Roxas's. He was busily cutting his kernels of corn into smaller and smaller pieces with the side of his fork, and then mixing them up with the mashed potatoes to make silly faces. Axel frowned.

"You need to eat, too, Roxas."

"Not hungry," Roxas chirped, as he fashioned bits of corn into eyes and teeth.

"You're just saying that because Zexion said it," Axel accused. Roxas paused his creation, and his eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, as if he were thinking very hard about what Axel had said. Then the moment passed, and Roxas went back to shaping little corn-kernel lips. All things considered, it was a very nice rendition of a face. Maybe a compliment would help?

"I like your face," Axel said, pointing to Roxas's mashed potatoes. Roxas beamed.

"Eat, Zexion. Please eat," Demyx was begging. "I don't want you to get sick again."

"I'm not sick," Zexion snapped, surprising everyone in the room with the ferocity of his response. He violently pushed his chair away from the table, and stood. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to stare. Even Roxas temporarily abandoned his food art, goopy potatoes dripping from his still fingers. Zexion didn't so much as pause to look at any of them before storming back out of the cafeteria. Demyx watched him with wide eyes, and as soon as his friend was out of sight, he slumped back down, the way he'd been before. Roxas went back to his art, and Axel was left with no one to talk to.

"No one is eating but me," he wondered out loud. Convincing Demyx to break out of his trance would probably be difficult, so Axel decided to keep working on Roxas. "Roxas, you need to eat something."

"Why?" Roxas asked plainly. Axel was taken aback.

"_Why_?" he repeated. Why had never even come into it. Eating was just something you had to do, like showering, and sleeping, and running and going to class. If you didn't eat, something bad would happen. Axel just couldn't remember _what. _Well, look at Demyx and Zexion- they were both unhappy, and they both didn't eat. But then, Roxas seemed perfectly fine, if a little unbalanced, and when was the last time Axel had seen _him_ eat something? He blinked. Roxas hadn't ingested so much as a single mouthful of food, for as long as he could remember, well, not since before Axel had kissed him. What did _that _mean?

"You just have to," was the best explanation he could come up with. Roxas snorted and went back to shaping his corn eyebrows. Axel was indignant at being brushed off. "Come on! Everyone has to eat. Everyone knows that," he teased, gently tapping Roxas's head with his knuckles. Roxas squeaked and grabbed his hair.

"Not hungry," he said.

"Look at Demyx. Demyx hasn't eaten yet," Axel said, pointing to where Demyx was swaying back and forth, and humming to himself, as if the rhythm might calm him down. "He hasn't eaten and now he's sad."

"No, Demyx is sad because Zexion was mean to him," Roxas corrected easily. Axel blinked.

"What did you just say?"

"My face! You like my face," Roxas said proudly, pointing to his finished work of art. Instead of the potatoes, Axel looked at Roxas's real face. He did like Roxas's face- he liked it a lot. Especially now, in his lucid moments, with a smile on his face and his eyes lit up with pride. Axel gently extended a hand, and ran two fingers along Roxas's cheek. Roxas's pride changed to confusion, and then to contentment. All of this- the not eating, the dreams, the forgetfulness- all of this had happened after Axel had kissed him. Was it all his fault?

The bell rang, and everyone got up to leave. Everyone but Roxas, who decided he wanted to stay. Axel stayed behind to convince him to move.

"Roxas, it's time to go," he said. He even extended a hand, to encourage him. Roxas ignored him, and continued looking frantically around the room. "Roxas…"

"I saw _her_ again," Roxas said lowly. Axel raised an eyebrow, and looked around the room himself. No one was there but him and Roxas.

"Her… you mean Larxene?" he asked, confused. Roxas didn't answer. He stood up and entwined his fingers with Axel's, ready to allow himself to be pulled down the hall to the showers. Axel sighed, and led him out of the cafeteria. He'd just have to try to get Roxas to eat something at breakfast.

* * *

Penelo swiveled angrily in the crappy old chair as the printer spat out all of the day's stats. Naminé refused to appear to give her answers, so she was redirecting her fury at the poor printer, a much easier target. How many trees had to die each year for this experiment? And what was Shinra doing with all this research, anyway? Besides fixing bugs in the system the DIZ Team didn't do any detailed analysis, but considering that they kept hard copies of everything, someone _somewhere _must be looking at it. Penelo wanted to know who, but she also wanted to live, so she didn't ask.

"Where's Kairi?" asked Pence.

"She left," Penelo said lowly. So far at least, her irritation hadn't seemed to affect the rest of the team. She grabbed the stats for the original five and stuffed them into their file, which she then dumped into the lab's tiny out box. She had no idea who actually collected the things from the out box- again, it was better not to ask. Every morning the stuff was gone, though, so it must be going somewhere.

"What, you actually want her to be here?" Hayner laughed. Penelo shut her eyes and bit her lip to stop from shooting something back at him. _Kairi has more shit to deal with than you have in your entire life, asshole. _

"God, Hayner, do you really have to be so mean to Kairi all the time? It's getting _really _old." Everyone stopped what they were doing, and stared at Olette. Those were the strongest words Penelo had ever heard come out of her mouth. Pence was in awe. An angry blush was spreading across Hayner's neck and cheeks.

"Geez, Olette, chill. It's just Kairi…" he muttered.

"Yeah, well, there's only five of us here, so we should get along," Olette snapped, and went back to angrily scrubbing a piece of equipment that Penelo didn't recognize. Hayner opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly deflated. Penelo was impressed in spite of herself. _Mental note- Olette possesses the power to make Hayner shut up. _While Hayner's back was turned, Pence gave Olette a quick thumbs-up. Olette smiled.

The silence that settled over the lab after the tiny disagreement was relaxing. The hazy blue light coming up from the floor, combined with the hum of the printer, would normally have threatened to put Penelo to sleep, but today she was too agitated to be bothered. She yawned and checked the sheets- the printer was barely done with Zexion. With a sigh, she pulled out her personal computer. Might as well find something on the internet to amuse herself- anything to keep her mind off of her terrible, awful job. If she just sat here, she'd go insane trying to figure out who Naminé had decided to edit. They were _all _mentally unstable! How was that notable?

Penelo had always wondered why they had internet access, but she figured that they needed it to do research for their jobs, so someone-or-other had convinced the higher-ups to let them keep it. In any case, they couldn't upload files to the internet or send information or anything like that, so the connection was most definitely one-way. Unfortunately, there was nothing online that she particularly wanted to read. She settled on the World News- always good to know what's happening outside, right?

Nothing of note had happened outside since the last time Penelo had gotten online. The main headline in the United States section was for some stupid contest. 'The Smartest Girl In America,' it said, apparently a science and mathematics competition for girls age eight to ten. This year's winner had been a ten-year-old named Julissa Davis. Penelo sighed. When _she _was eight she was stealing food from dumpsters- certainly not entering any prestigious national competitions.

_Would I like to see a gallery of previous winners? Yeah, sure, whatever, _Penelo thought agitatedly, clicking through the links. She figured that looking at cute little girls with trophies would get her mind off things. Boy, was that ever a wrong idea.

Penelo recognized the third girl down. She was smiling widely, a massive trophy clutched in her tiny hands. Her long red hair was neatly combed back and pinned with a bow. Penelo recognized those big blue eyes, and that clumsy scattering of freckles.

_Kairi won a contest? _She had to admit, Kairi was a pretty cute little kid, even with the huge glasses she was wearing. Penelo had had no idea that her boss was near-sighted- it seemed weird not to know something so basic, after working so closely with someone for six months. The blurb underneath the photo was remarkable. _Youngest ever winner. _Just the short summary of the computer program Kairi had written to win made Penelo's head ache. She'd known her coworker was smart, but this? This was ridiculous.

Then Penelo focused on the name beneath the picture.

She screamed and dropped her tablet.

"Penelo?" Pence asked, concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I thought I saw a spider," she invented quickly. _Oh my God. Do they __**know**__?_

"Kill it!" Olette shrieked from clear over on the other side of the lab.

"It's just a spider," Hayner grumbled, apparently still not over being shut down by Olette earlier. No- no, there was no way these people knew. It couldn't have stayed a secret so long if they knew. But… what was Kairi trying to _do_? And why had she chosen such a stupid fake name? _Because no one would ever guess it was fake, _Penelo thought to herself in amazement. _Hiding in plain sight. That's…_

Brilliant. It was brilliant.

Penelo decided that for now, she would be keeping this information to herself.

* * *

Roxas awoke in the middle of the night to a sight he'd most definitely never seen before. A person all in white, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes, was sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed. She- for it was definitely a she- was considering him curiously, with her head cocked to one side. Her eyes blinked slowly, like a bug. What a strange person. And what was she doing in his room, on his bed?

"Wer zum Teufel bist du?"

"Ich bin Naminé," she said immediately. The girl gently flipped her hair over her shoulder, and seemed to be deep in thought. Roxas's eyes narrowed, and he watched her, afraid that if he looked away, she would disappear, or worse. Finally, she spoke again, to ask a question of her own. "Können Sie Englisch?"

"Of course I do," he snapped. Naminé nodded, without moving her eyes away. Roxas frowned. He continued speaking in English- whatever had been coming out of his mouth before was already fading away, like a bad dream. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"I did. My name is Naminé."

"Yes, I know, but why are you here?" She didn't answer. "You're an Other." Naminé was indeed an Other, and a powerful one, at that. The magic rolling off of her presence was almost overwhelming. Roxas knew that he'd felt something similar to this before, but he couldn't for the life of him remember where. Naminé somehow clogged up his senses, and his brain felt like it was being distracted by a click-clicking noise, as if a cockroach had crawled into his ear. "Are you a student?" he asked.

"No," she answered simply, slowly shaking her head from side to side.

"Then how'd you get into our bedroom?"

"Somebody asked me to keep an eye on you." That news should have startled Roxas more than it actually did. Instead, it somehow reaffirmed to him that Twilight Town Academy was the safest place he could possibly be. He was _safe _here. So, his questions were more out of curiosity than out of fear.

"What? Why? Who?" Naminé answered with a question of her own.

"Aren't you happy that someone is worried about you?" Roxas blinked. Was he?

"I… I don't know," he said lamely. Axel was always worrying about him. Did _that _make him happy?

"You should be happy." Naminé stopped talking, apparently having said all that she wanted to say. A long silence stretched between them, neither willing to take their eyes off the other. Around them, the other students slept peacefully. Axel mumbled something and the air began to heat up- he must be dreaming. But not even Axel's dream was enough to break Roxas's focus.

"Naminé," he repeated quietly. "That's my teacher's name." His eyebrows furrowed. Why had that sprung into his head so suddenly?

"Yes. There are a lot of us," Naminé affirmed easily. Professor Naminé was an old woman, though. This Naminé was young- she couldn't have been even twenty. In fact, she looked to be exactly the same age as Roxas himself.

"Are you related?" Roxas asked. He wasn't entirely sure why, but this new Naminé was drawing him into conversation, like a spider spinning a web. She seemed to notice the same thing, and laughed lowly, a tiny giggle that was at once calming and terrifying.

"Not exactly." Once again, she began fiddling with the ends of her silky blonde hair.

"What does that mean?"

"You ask so many questions. It would take a long time to explain," she said, with a small smile. Roxas's frown deepened. Something about this girl was oppressively sad.

"So let's take a long time," Roxas urged. She didn't seem to be going anywhere- after all, she was the one who had snuck in here in the middle of the night to sit on his bed. This girl needed someone to talk to, that was certain. The way she stared at Roxas, and hung on his every word- this Naminé was desperate for human contact. For a moment, she almost seemed ready to open up and talk to him. But then that moment passed, and she leaned back with a sigh.

"I cannot do that." She somehow shook her head without breaking eye contact. "I am only here to observe. And you would not remember, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because you're broken." She said the words evenly, the same way one might say 'because circles are round.' As if it were a simple fact, that Roxas should already know for himself. But Roxas _didn't _know for himself. The words hit him like a sack of rocks, and he forgot to breathe. He was offended by her bluntness, and besides, he most certainly was not _broken_!

"How can you say something like that?" he gasped incredulously. Naminé shrank back from the sudden force of his voice. He almost felt bad for scaring her. Almost. This girl had some nerve, waking him up in the middle night to tell him he was broken.

"Do not worry. You will not remember this conversation in the morning. Your memory is too damaged." She said the words as if they were supposed to comfort him, but they predictably did just the opposite. His memory was damaged!? His name was Roxas. He was a student at Twilight Town Academy. He knew his numbers, his days of the week, his lefts and rights and ups and downs. His memory was _not_ damaged!

"What? How did that happen?" He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, clearly offering his new acquaintance a challenge. Instead, she shook her head again.

"It is complicated," she said simply.

"_Tell me_!" he ordered. Suddenly, Naminé smiled, a genuine smile. Her eyes lit up and her teeth shone. Roxas was bemused. Something he'd done had made her happy, but what? Naminé leaned forward, slowly, as if afraid he might retaliate. Roxas just stared. Once she was close enough, she reached out her right hand, and gently ran her fingers across his forehead.

"Good night, Roxas," she said softly, still smiling. Roxas smiled back, stupidly. Then he leaned back onto his pillows. He was asleep before he could even think about how nice his pillows were.

The next morning, Axel nudged him to wake him up. Roxas was bundled heavily in his blankets, curled up into a tight little ball, hugging his pillow. At the touch, his eyelids fluttered open.

"Come on, Roxas. It's time for breakfast." Roxas rolled over, and smiled at him sleepily.

"Hi, Axel. I'm Roxas."

* * *

Oh noes! WHO IS KAIRI?? ... I've been trying to make it pretty obvious. :D And who oh who did Naminé decide to fiddle with? Why did Naminé talk to Roxas? Why did Penelo start working for Shinra? Will anyone ever listen to poor Luxord? Secrets, secrets!

Tune in to our next installment, wherein Roxas loves lamp, Sora prepares to piggy-back Riku across town by shouting "You better hold on tight, spider monkey," and the Riku Replica shows up to tell Riku how lame he is.

On a related note, Riku Replica slash fiction inspires the authoress to update faster. Just sayin'. (I totally have a Riku Replica / Larxene I wrote a while back on my computer somewhere, LOL.)


	22. Chapter 22

Hey guys! Sorry for the longer-than-usual gap. Wait. Why am I apologizing for taking a week to update? LOL.

When last we saw our heroes, Kytes and Vaan were taking them down into their guttery home.

* * *

Riku was perfectly comfortable in enclosed spaces, in fact, probably even more so than he was while out in the open. Sora, on the other hand, was completely miserable, and on top of that barely able to squeeze his wings into the narrow stairwell that they'd been funneled into. At first the steps had been relatively wide, and Sora had shuffled along reasonably comfortably, but now, his wings were squished down against him, forcing their way through the tunnel, shedding feathers everywhere, and Riku could most definitely smell the irritation rolling off his friend. That is, if they were still friends. He subconsciously fingered the feather he'd stolen back at the church, thumbing its hiding place under his shirt.

He hadn't expected Sora to take the fake name thing so badly, or even at all. He hadn't even put that much effort into choosing his fake name- he'd just picked a random Japanese word, for God's sake! Whether or not he'd tell anyone the truth hadn't really occurred to him; he'd figured that the truth would come out on its own if and when it became appropriate. And, well, it had come out, and now Sora was flipping a shit. Riku would have to apologize later, if Sora was even still willing to listen to him.

"Lowtown is where the Others who have nowhere else to go come to live," Kytes said smoothly, his voice muffled by the wall of flesh and feathers that was separating him from Riku. Riku was startled by the sudden noise- he most certainly had not been thinking about Lowtown, but Sora must have been. Maybe Sora wasn't so mad at him, after all? He heard a tiny snort from the front of the line, and sighed.

"Why don't they have anywhere else to go?" Sora asked out loud.

"You'll see," Vaan muttered. "Really, you're the exception. You're lucky you were able to survive up top for so long."

"Usually, Others simply get driven out of their homes, or are incapable of functioning in society altogether, thanks to our abilities." Kytes once again answered the unanswered questions.

"And by abilities, he means hideous deformities," Vaan said lowly. Riku started at that, but he decided not to ask. Sora apparently decided not to ask as well, but Riku saw his wings noticeably sag in the tiny space. He was getting quite good at reading wingspeak. Sora really, _really _didn't like Vaan- understandable, really, since the guy had stolen his brother's bike and then blown it up. He was keeping his mouth shut for now, though, which was good. Riku had to admit he'd been a little intimidated by Sora's shouting match outside- who knew the kid was so protective of his brother? He remembered the statement about Winged-Americans, and chuckled a little.

"What is it?" Vaan asked, from the other side of Sora.

"Ah, nothing," said Riku quickly. Thankfully, he didn't see when Kytes mouthed 'I'll tell you later' in Vaan's direction. Sora did, and laughed.

The walk felt like it took an eternity, but really, the staircase couldn't have gone down more than a couple of stories. Finally, they broke out into a relatively open cavern, and Sora immediately took the opportunity to snap his wings open and shake out some of the dust. Riku didn't miss the fact that one of the appendages "accidentally" hit Vaan square in the gut. Unfortunately, Vaan was immune to that sort of thing, and before Sora could even faux-apologize, he just shoved the offending wing out of the way with a heavy glare in Sora's direction. Sora pretended not to notice. The passive-aggression of it all was going to drive Riku insane. For the first time since leaving Yuffie in Japan, he found his hands aching for a sword.

Once Sora was done preening, the four boys kept on moving down a tunnel that might possibly have been meant to be a road, keeping the same order, with Kytes leading the way, then Vaan, then Sora, then Riku. At first, the pathway seemed to be dug awkwardly directly from the rock and earth underneath Manhattan, but as they continued, the road slowly changed. The bumpy pathway smoothed out into even concrete, the smells went from natural to synthetic, the hewn walls became tiled. Sora reached out a hand and ran it along the cool mosaic.

"Is this an old subway station?" he asked Kytes and Vaan. Riku blinked. Of course it was. He could see a sign for 103rd street, neatly tiled into the underground wall. He remembered his old map of New York, and immediately pulled it out. Vaan saw what he had and grinned, the first time Riku could recall seeing the boy smile.

"We're right here," he said, pointing to a faded red line on the left side of the map. "103rd and Broadway. The old 1 line. How did you get this?"

"It was my mother's. Is my mother's," Riku corrected himself. He'd stolen it, sure, but he had every intention of going home and giving it back. _With _his dad in tow.

"Oh. Is she dead?" Vaan asked bluntly.

"What? No!" _Who the hell asks a question like that?_ Kytes gave Vaan a look, and the taller boy rolled his eyes.

"You said was," Vaan shrugged.

"Pretty much everyone down here's parents are dead," Kytes explained, somewhat more gently. "It's a pretty ordinary question to ask." Riku glanced over at Sora to try to see his reaction to that, but he was staring intently at a big rat scuffling along the wall. Of course. Sora's parents were gone, too. Riku was slowly beginning to learn just how much harder the war had hit New York than his home in Japan. He hadn't had many friends back home, but he still didn't know any orphans. Here, literally everyone he'd met was an orphan. _If this many adults are gone, just think of how many kids died, too…_

"Come on," Kytes said quickly, his eyes trained on Riku, evidently trying to nip that train of thought in the bud. "Not much farther, now."

"I thought the air down here was toxic," Sora said suddenly. His eyes were still glazed over, and he seemed dazed and out-of-place. An angel trapped in hell. Riku wondered if Sora was as claustrophobic as he himself was afraid of heights.

"Well, this far uptown it's not as bad," Kytes explained, since Vaan evidently didn't want to bother. "We were able to get by just with powers for a while. Then we managed to make our own sort of mini-APDs, just for this area. Actually, Vaan's sister did most of the work- she's the brains of the family." Vaan huffed and punched Kytes in the shoulder. Kytes smiled, but otherwise ignored him. Riku glanced around for the aforementioned air purification devices, and finally found a dim light flickering in a corner. That was another thing that made New York special- in Kyoto, they didn't need machines to purify their air.

"You have a sister?" Riku asked curiously. "Does she live here, too?"

"She used to," Vaan said shortly. Riku was halted from inquiring further when another person finally appeared at the other end of the corridor, waving wildly. She broke into a run, coming towards them, a huge smile on her face. Her skin was dark, as dark as the tunnel itself. Though she seemed to be about the same age as the rest of them, her body was small and skinny, the way you'd expect from someone who'd been poorly nourished and living underground her whole life.

"That's Mjrn," said Vaan, apparently the only introduction they were going to get. Kytes's face immediately brightened up when he saw her- didn't have to read minds to figure _that _one out. Riku was pleased to see Kytes's face flush. Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking it, then. Once again, he tried to make eye contact with Sora, but once again Sora ignored him, thoroughly distracted by something else, this time sprouting from their new acquaintance's head.

"Your ears!" Sora squeaked. Riku peered a little closer at the girl. Her hair was white, pure white, not silver like Riku's, but that wasn't even her most notable feature. The top of her hair was parted, and two enormous ears were springing out. Not normal human ears of course, but rabbit ears, long and soft and the same deep brown as her skin, sparkling with energetic flecks of white. Riku was slowly beginning to understand what Vaan had meant by 'hideous deformities.'

"She's deaf," Vaan told Sora bluntly. Sora's hand flew up to his mouth. Mjrn laughed happily.

"She can read lips," Kytes said, grinning goofily and giving his friend a little hug in greeting. Riku was amazed at how at ease the boy seemed in this dank little hole- much more so than he'd been on the street. This place really was his home, then. But he'd mentioned Others, plural- he couldn't have just been talking about Mjrn? A few feet away, Mjrn was wiggling her ears excitedly at Kytes, who was reacting to nothing in particular.

"Mjrn wants to give you guys the grand tour," Kytes explained to them after a moment. Oh. Duh. He could hear what she was thinking. "She's very excited to meet you both. And Sora, she wants me to tell you that she thinks your wings are very pretty." Mjrn watched Kytes's lips intently, and when he was done, she nodded cheerfully, apparently satisfied that her message had been passed on. Lucky for her, she couldn't hear the hint of jealousy that had crept into Kytes voice when he complimented Sora. Sora himself was blushing deeply.

"Ah, thanks, Mjrn. Your ears are pretty, too," he said sheepishly, his feathers fluffed up the way they always were when he was embarrassed. The whole conversation had a weird air of translingual awkwardness about it, like when you meet someone from a foreign place and the language barrier is so severe that you have nothing to do but smile a lot and say how much you like their country's food. Riku had a suspicion, however, that he would not be liking whatever kind of food they ate in Lowtown, and he wasn't particularly interested in staying long enough to find out.

"Come on. It's only a little farther." Vaan turned and began walking away. Mjrn grabbed Sora's hand and dragged him off too, leaving Riku and Kytes behind. Kytes looked rather peeved, and Riku really couldn't blame him- he'd be pissed too if he was interpreting for someone and they decided to up and ditch him.

"She didn't ditch me," Kytes snapped, much too defensively. Riku snorted. "And she doesn't need me to 'interpret' for her. She can read and write fine, and she signs with her sisters."

"They live down here too?" Riku asked out loud, out of habit.

"They're triplets. All deaf. They went to deaf school together before, you know, the ears happened." So all three of them had rabbit ears? What were the odds of that?

"I'd say pretty strong, considering that they're identical triplets," Kytes quipped. Riku opted to ignore him and set off towards where the others had gone. They were out of sight, but he could still smell them, even over Kytes's ever-present rotting leaves smell and the general stench of metallic earth and uncleanliness that permeated the old subway. As they walked, however, another smell joined the party, and this one Riku couldn't quite place. It was pungent, painfully so, and shooting straight up into his sinuses. Whatever it was, the scent was getting stronger, and it seemed to be right where Sora was waiting for him. Riku just hoped that his eyes wouldn't start to water, as that would pretty much instantly destroy any cred he had in this place.

Sora finally came into view, his huge white wings brightening up the tunnel considerably. They were shrunk down against his body, and Riku was pleased to see that Sora kept glancing over his shoulder, apparently looking for him. Mjrn just stood silently, but Vaan was speaking, hands shoved into pockets. When Sora saw Riku, he made eye contact for the first time since landing in the Upper West Side, his face unmistakably desperate to see someone he knew. Riku was just glad to be on eye-contact basis with his only friend in the Western Hemisphere again. But once he saw what had upset Sora so badly, the joy drained out of him like dishwater down the drain.

"Well, that's it," Kytes said softly. "What do you think?"

Lowtown as it was could hardly be called a town at all. The population couldn't have been greater than 100, maybe 200 to be generous. Somehow the Others had used the subway tunnels as a starting point to cut out a massive cavern, big enough to contain a few streets of sorts, lined with shambly houses. The houses themselves were clearly only there for privacy, a desperate move to cling to the last dregs of human dignity, shoddily constructed from rock and old bits of track and even a few actual subway cars here and there. Homemade APDs were scattered around the tiny village, outfitted with tiny blinking lights that sporadically lit up the hole. For that was the best word to describe the place- a hole.

"It's…." Riku trailed off. He didn't know what to say. Kytes understood, and just nodded.

"You live like this?" Sora whispered painfully. His feathers were trembling. Mjrn put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but it didn't seem to help. Riku walked up next to his friend, and tried to see what was upsetting him. Finally, his eyes settled on an older woman who had wings, almost the same way Sora did. At least, she had at one point, before someone had sawed them off, leaving jutting, jagged bones, lumps and scars strewn violently all across her back. He swallowed hard.

"We don't really have much choice," Vaan laughed humorlessly. "It's not so bad, though." Riku scanned the rest of the townspeople. Nearby, a large man was napping outside his lean-to, completely in the nude- he couldn't wear clothes because his entire body was secreting orangeish ooze. Another man had two extra arms growing out of the middle of his torso, one of which was shriveled and useless. A young woman had oversized eyes that were fractured like an insect's. Never in his short life had he imagined he'd come into contact with a group of people that made him look downright _normal._

"It's late. We should probably sleep. Mjrn says you can stay with her," Kytes said dully.

"No, they should stay with me. Penelo's gone, so I have more space," said Vaan suddenly. Riku observed that Mjrn was crestfallen, while Kytes perked up considerably. So Vaan was capable of being nice after all. Wait, _stay_?

"We're _sleeping _here?" Sora was still too stunned to react at all.

"Well, yeah. You came up here because you wanted me to help you, didn't you? It's too late to do anything right now," Kytes reasoned. "We'll all sleep, and then we can talk about your dad tomorrow." At the mention of a missing family member, Sora snapped out of his trance, unfurling his wings with more than enough force to shock Mjrn into turning to stare at him.

"What about Cloud!?" Now everyone was staring at him. "He's lost somewhere, and now he doesn't even have a bike!" Vaan opened his mouth to retort, but Kytes quickly moved to shut him up.

"I'm sure Cloud is fine," he said quickly. "It's unfortunate that Vaan stole his motorcycle, but I'm sure that doesn't mean-"

"How do you know what it means!? I need to go find him!" Sora turned to leave, but was stopped when Riku grabbed his arm. He stared at the offending hand, then slowly brought his eyes up to meet Riku's for the second time since entering the subway. He was angry. Stark raving pissed. Riku had to calm him down- but how?

"Uh, Sora," he started lamely, tightening his grip when Sora tried to tear his arm away. "Sora! You can't do anything about it tonight. You're too tired to fly all the way back downtown, let alone go searching all over the city." He'd just been saying the first words that came to mind, but once they were out, he was surprised by how reasonable he sounded. Really, his motivations were rather selfish- he didn't want to be left alone. Not here. Not in this place. He wouldn't be able to take it. "_Please, _Sora. You came with me this far. Just a few more hours? Please?" Riku wasn't usually the sort to resort to begging, but he really needed Sora to stay. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he left, even if Sora refused to talk or even look at him. Some of the desperation must have gotten through, because after a long moment, Sora sighed and gave in, his wings dropping back in defeat.

"Fine," he muttered. "But in the morning, I'm leaving to go find my stupid brother."

"Ok," Riku said happily. That was enough for him. He just wanted to have Sora close by while he slept.

Wait, _what_?

Kytes burst out laughing. The other two seemed to take this as adequate sign that the disagreement had been resolved, and Vaan quickly dragged Sora and Riku off towards his house, waving goodbye to Kytes, who lived outside of town due to thought-noise levels, and Mjrn, who lived on the opposite side of town from Vaan with her two sisters.

Vaan took the long way around to his home so that they wouldn't have to talk to any townspeople, something for which Riku was eternally grateful, until Vaan explained that it was just because the townspeople probably wouldn't feel safe around a werewolf. Well, great. So much for normalcy- even among freaks he was a freak. The home itself was a set of walls built from what appeared to be street signs.

"Yeah. I stole signs for months before we had enough to build this thing," he grinned, the second time Riku had seen him genuinely happy. "Penelo- that's my sister- she welded them all together. Isn't that awesome?" Sora didn't say anything, so Riku took it upon himself to respond.

"Yeah, it's really cool," he said politely. Well, it _was_ really cool, to be honest. He suddenly remembered what he'd wanted to ask earlier, but hadn't gotten a chance.

"Why doesn't she live here anymore?" The change in Vaan's mood was palpable. His face darkened, and he shook his head.

"Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to bed." Vaan's bed, such as it was, was a pile of rags in the corner. He graciously shared some of his rags with Sora and Riku, and was snoring within seconds. Riku supposed you'd have to get used to being a heavy sleeper, living in a place like this. He didn't mind the noise so much, though- what he really wished he had was something to plug up his nose and block out all the terrible smells. That really bad smell, though, he still hadn't come across what the source was. He hoped he wouldn't have to. Sora had piled up his own rags into a nest of sorts, and was now lying on his stomach with his wings flopped out as far as they could go before they pushed into the walls. Riku had to laugh at the sight- it was unbearably cute. Sora propped himself up on his elbows to glare at him, and he sobered immediately.

"Are you still mad at me?" he whispered, careful not to wake up their host.

"Yes, but at the moment I'm too freaked by this place to bother with it," Sora admitted after a while. "Seriously, Riku, what are we doing here?"

"Kytes said he could help me," Riku said. "And if it turns out he can't, no worries, I'll flay him with my little wolf claws." Sora laughed at that, and Riku relaxed considerably. As long as Sora was willing to pretend he wasn't mad at him, well, that was enough.

"Do you really think Cloud's ok?" Sora asked quietly.

"I'm sure he is," Riku assured his friend. "The guy I met seemed totally able to take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine."

"Ok… ok, if you say so."

"I don't say so, I _know_ so." At that, Sora lay back down on his bed, and Riku did the same. The events of the night were finally catching up to him. "Good night, Sora," he murmured as he closed his eyes.

"Sweet dreams," Sora whispered back.

* * *

"Whoa, easy there," Leon murmured, rubbing Cloud's back as he vomited into the toilet for the umpteenth time that night. The nap had demonstrably not helped any with his problems keeping food down. The bathroom looked like he'd just gone to a bachelor party where they served blood instead of booze. The sticky red liquid was _everywhere_, mixed of course with Cloud's own bodily fluids. The smell was atrocious, which thankfully stopped Leon's vampire senses from going crazy. His eyes automatically worried the bandage he'd carefully wrapped around Cloud's neck.

"I don't understand why it's not staying down," he said softly. Cloud tried to respond, but was cut off when he heaved again. They'd been going through this cycle all night, with starving Cloud desperately sucking down as much blood as he could before he puked it all up again. The empty, torn up blood bags were scattered haphazardly all over the floor. Was it psychological? Was Cloud just completely repulsed by the idea of eating blood? Depressing, really, that Cloud found something so fundamental to his person so disgusting. But then, Cloud lied to all of his friends about his brother, so what could Leon expect? He shoved that dangerous thought down into his subconscious. Right now, he had to make sure Cloud didn't die.

"Ungh. I don't- feel good-" Cloud suddenly started trying to lick blood off the edge of the toilet seat. Leon grabbed him and pulled him upright.

"Ok, this is going nowhere. Let's get you back to bed." He grabbed a towel and wiped all of the blood off of his friend's face and chest. Cloud was shaking now, almost definitely from malnutrition. If he hadn't eaten at all since he became a vampire… that was at least a week. The color gradually returning to his cheeks showed that his body was stubbornly absorbing _something_, but it wasn't enough, not by a long shot.

"I'm so hungry," he whimpered. Leon couldn't imagine- he was desperate to eat after a few _hours _without blood. What Cloud was feeling must be something akin to having acid injected into your insides. At least Cloud hadn't noticed yet that Sora wasn't around, or at least hadn't said anything about it. That was a conversation that Leon was not looking forward to he said was "I know," and he lifted Cloud- frighteningly light- and carried him into his room.

"I'm going to starve to death," Cloud giggled stupidly. "I'm going to starve to death because I can't swallow _pig blood. _Honestly, Squall, what the fuck is my life right now?" Leon was too preoccupied to correct Cloud's use of his first name.

"You are _not _going to starve to death. We'll figure out a way to get you to keep it down." He kicked his bedroom door open and deposited Cloud on his bed. Between bleeding Riku and filthy Cloud, his room was going to smell awful for weeks to come, he just knew it.

"But what if we don't? What if we don't and I just wither away and die?" Cloud had stopped laughing, and his voice was very calm, especially considering what he was talking about. That was how Cloud was, always, even as a kid- he could talk about any subject, no matter how distasteful, with flawless ease. If his old personality was coming back, that meant that the worst of the transformation was over, which was excellent. Now all they had to do was get Cloud strong enough to walk on his own before all his muscles began to atrophy.

"You survived being turned- most people can't even do that. And you've made it this far. You're not going to die," Leon muttered the words of encouragement as he tucked Cloud into his bed.

"But what if I do?" Cloud insisted stubbornly. "What'll happen to Sora?"

"Sora will be fine," Leon soothed, desperate for Cloud to hurry up and pass out from exhaustion. But suddenly, something seemed to occur to Cloud. He feebly turned his neck to glance around the tiny room.

"Squall… where _is _Sora?" This. This was what Leon had been dreading. What was he supposed to say? Oh, I have no idea, he up and disappeared with a werewolf a couple hours before you arrived? And that's not even the first time he's disappeared? You entrusted me with the care of your only living relative and I totally fucked it up? No. None of that would do at all, and Cloud couldn't waste energy on worrying, not in the state he was in.

"Do you really want to see him right now, the way that you are?" Leon winced at how cold the words were, even as they came out of his mouth. But it was the truth, and he knew that Cloud would be self-conscious enough to hide his condition from Sora for as long as he possibly could. Heck, he hadn't even been willing to come to the church of his own free will- the NYPD had to knock him out and drag him. Leon watched as Cloud's face fell, only slightly noticeably, exactly the way he'd been expecting.

"He's ok, isn't he?" he asked quietly, defeated.

"Well, he was upset that you haven't come to see him, but given the circumstances, I'm sure he'll understand," Leon tried to joke. Cloud was not amused. He sighed. "Just go to sleep, Cloud. You'll be happy to see Sora once you're fully recovered." He walked over to the door, flipped the light switch off, and was about to leave when he was stopped by a tiny moan.

"Um. Cloud?" he asked, and he turned back to his friend. Big, salty tears were dripping down his cheeks. How Cloud had enough fluid left in his body to cry was beyond him.

"I said _no. _He can't see me like this," Cloud whispered weakly. Leon sighed. He was hungry, he was tired, he still had work to do for his _real _job, and all he really wanted to do was sit down and not have to take care of someone for five damn minutes. But Cloud… he couldn't leave him like this. And so tonight, Leon would be playing psychiatrist as well as nurse.

"Don't be a douchehat," he said flatly. Well, maybe not so much 'psychiatrist' as 'brutally honest voice of reason.' "Sora's your brother. We'll all love you no matter what." He winced and hoped that Cloud didn't pick up the significance of his word choice.

The last several hours, since he'd found out that Cloud had been turned, he'd been so busy trying to make sure Cloud didn't die that he hadn't ever really stopped to think about how _he _felt about his best friend being turned into a vampire. He supposed that he might feel happy- hey, in theory at least, he wasn't alone anymore- but really, he just couldn't. Cloud wasn't meant to be like him. Cloud belonged in the sun.

Leon didn't love Cloud any more or any less. He just loved Cloud for being Cloud- he'd still love Cloud if he was dragged into the church one day missing his arms and legs and all of his hair. And that, he supposed, was that. Leon had it bad, and he was stuck that way.

Cloud didn't respond to Leon's proclamation, instead opting to stare at the wall. After a few minutes, it became rather obvious that no response was forthcoming.

"Do you want to talk? Or should I go?" he asked. Cloud didn't answer, so Leon got up and left him to stew. If he decided he wanted to talk… well, there were plenty of hours in the day.

* * *

Ideally, the lengths of the POVs would not be so different. But I'm going on vacation on Wednesday, so I wanted to make sure I had a solid chapter posted before I left, y'know? Mjrn is indeed a character in Final Fantasy 12, and that is indeed how her name is spelled- it's pronounced 'Myern,' if you were wondering. Slashing her with Kytes is a little odd, but hey, they both like to cause mischief... it works, kinda?

Tune in for the next installment, wherein Leon throws someone out of a second story window, and then leaps after him among the shattered glass, landing cat-like on two feet in an alleyway, shouting commands over his shoulder, brandishing his sword, and disappearing into the darkness with only a raging battlecry left behind. Oh wait, I'm confusing this fic with the first Kingdom Hearts again. Sorry.

Ahem. Tune in for the next installment, wherein Riku chucks a giant log at Sora's head. ... God DAMMIT. :)

Speaking of Riku, I just started a non-AU (GASP) fic that centers on him and the Organization, during that awkward in-between year where Sora was asleep. I figured I should get that out of my system before everyone plays 358/2 Days, LOL. Anyway, it's a response to The White Raven013's fic challenge, and the premise that Zexion actually got Riku to work for the Organization in Chain of Memories. It's oh-so-creatively titled 'The Story of Riku.' Maybe go read it? :D

Q OF THE DAY: No cliffhangers in this chap, sooo... what is your favorite setting? Out and about in New York? The Shinra Building? Leon's church? Twilight Town Academy? Any of the stuff we've seen in flashbacks? Some other area I've forgotten about entirely? Oh, and do you like the Q of the Day? I like including one because whenever I want to review a fic I like I never know what to say, LOL.


	23. Chapter 23

Ack, sorry for the length between updates. I've been listening to Michael Jackson 80s dance-pop hits almost nonstop since he died, and it's very difficult to write while jammin' to the beat. RIP Michael Jackson!

Anyway, this chapter is extra long. And includes multiple lemons. Merry Christmas! :D

* * *

Catching a moment where she didn't have to be in the lab, Kairi lay sprawled across her queen-sized gift-bed, clicking through the online archives of some trashy magazine. The only part of the scene that was at all remarkable was that Kairi had stripped all the way down to her practical white cotton bra and panties. For some reason the air filtration in the basement wasn't working, or something, so the bottom line was just that it was much too hot for clothes. In any case, there wasn't anyone in that apartment but herself and God, and she figured God could forgive her just this once.

Kairi pushed her sticky bangs out of her face. The tabloids were unbearably dull these days- nothing but rumors of who'd died of a drug overdose and who'd died of a grotesque radioactive illness. The signs of both were eerily similar, after all, so there was plenty of room for debate. Not that she particularly cared one way or the other.

No, Kairi was hiding in her apartment because she was avoiding the lab. She had to. Knowing what Naminé was doing, she couldn't trust herself to be down there at all. She'd go mad. Watching the stats obsessively, trolling for the tiniest switches in behavior that betrayed a change of heart. No. Better to stay in her stifling apartment- she couldn't trust herself not to order Naminé to stop. Naminé would listen to her, of course, but then Kairi and Penelo and the hardware team and everyone inside the computer would be as good as dead.

And she did, after all, still have her promise to keep.

A loud knock on her door tore her rudely out of her nostalgia. Kairi swore under her breath and began fumbling for clothes. Since her last meeting with Ansem, they'd left her alone. Who was bothering her now?

"Who is it?" she shouted, struggling to pull a shirt over her head.

"Penelo." Oh. Fuck it. Kairi tossed the garment aside, swung off her bed, and walked the few easy steps to the door. She yanked it open, fingers drumming impatiently against the skin of her hip.

"What is it?" she asked bluntly. Penelo, who had clearly been expecting to find someone with clothes on, squeaked in shock and took a hurried step back, a hot blush spreading across her cheeks. Kairi rolled her eyes. Who knew the girl was such a prude? "Well?" she pressed.

"I'm here to- uh, I mean, uh, it's your shift," Penelo stammered out awkwardly in a manner that really didn't suit her at all. Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"Ok," she said slowly. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Ok, I'm going to, uh, I mean, uh, yeah." With that articulate goodbye, Penelo turned around and hurried back off to wherever she went when she wasn't working. Her room, probably, or maybe the cafeteria. Well, that was weird.

Kairi quickly showered, got dressed in her usual work uniform, and packed her bag with everything she'd need. Out of habit, she reached for the handle to her mini fridge, only to yank it back at the last second. Oh, that was the other thing.

Kairi had given up alcohol.

She couldn't trust herself to be drunk around Naminé, as the girl would react to whatever her true feelings were. So she had to stay sober. All the time. It was excruciating. Sometimes her hands would shake uncontrollably, her head ached as if every single one of her personal demons were trying to bust out, and her left eye had developed a persistent twitch. Yeah, the sooner this experiment shit was over, the better. And hey, maybe Hayner would be in the lab and she could flay him. Yes, that idea cheered her up considerably.

The air outside her room was about ten degrees cooler than inside- apparently it was only her room that was messed up, then. In any case, that made the long trek to the lab considerably more pleasant, and she was almost whistling a jaunty tune by the time she got to the familiar industrial security doors.

Almost.

Kairi punched in her security code and the doors whirred open, like usual. She walked confidently in and over to her usual broken chair and terminal, dropping her bag and typing in her log-in codes. Penelo had left a note for her saying that she hadn't printed the stats yet, so Kairi sighed and resigned herself to a particularly boring afternoon. Maybe she'd be able to take a nap.

She put her head down and prepared to go to sleep, only to be interrupted rather rudely. Her brain was so bleary from lack of alcohol that it took her more than a full minute to notice that there were two other people in the room, and even then, she only noticed when one of them cleared his throat.

"Ahem." Kairi turned to see where the obnoxious noise was coming from, and almost shrieked in horror.

Almost. Kairi wasn't a shrieker.

Hayner was sitting in the POEM, with Olette straddling him. And they were both naked. And clearly mid-sex. And Hayner was staring at Kairi as if _she _was the one with the problem. Olette, bless her, had at least tried to cover herself when Kairi had come in, though with limited success, and she was blushing furiously. A long silence stretched between them, a silence that seemed better not broken, but finally, Kairi took the plunge.

"What the fuck!?" That was the best she could come up with. Well, this would explain why Penelo had been so awkward when she'd told Kairi to go to the lab. That _bitch. _Oh, would she be hearing about this later. Hayner was the next to speak.

"Do you mind?" He said it haughtily, as if Kairi had just barged into his house uninvited on his wedding night and started up a party in his private bedroom. Yeah, as if.

"Hayner," Olette hissed. "Let's just go back to-"

"Do _I _mind!?" Kairi had finally found her voice, and was gearing up for a full-on lecture. One of the epic ones that her hapless employees would be complaining about at the watering hole for weeks to come. "Look at yourselves. You guys are _having sex _on the _point of entry machine._" She paused to let her words sink in. "I am being completely sincere when I ask _what the fuck is wrong with you_?"

"Kairi, I'm really sor-" Olette tried.

"No. I'm talking," she said coldly. "First of all, that thing is incredibly dangerous. You realize I could push a button right now and _both _of you would be off to computer la-la land? Oh, wait, except you'd be _vaporized_, since it's designed to work on Others." That had evidently not occurred to either of them, and Hayner finally began to look properly ashamed. "Secondly, even if you managed to finish without exploding yourselves, if the higher-ups ever heard about you endangering the equipment like this, you'd be taken off the team like _that._" She snapped her fingers for emphasis. "And we all know what that means." Yeah, that meant death. Hayner and Olette were now both completely pale, faces and otherwise.

"Boss-" Olette tried again. Kairi waved her into silence.

"And finally," she finished dramatically, "_ew. _Get a fucking _room_. You both have _apartments _that are _right next to each other._" She turned away, finished with having all the nakedness all up in her face. "Right now, you are going to get dressed and get the fuck out. My shift ends in six hours. At that point, you're both coming back here and scrubbing all of your groty fluids off the machinery with toothbrushes. _Your own_ toothbrushes. And if you're not here at the end of my shift to greet me with happy, _clothed _faces, I'm going straight to Ansem to tell him what I just saw. Do I make myself clear?" She heard Hayner lift Olette off of himself and start pulling his pants on. Finally.

"Kairi-"

"Don't, Olette." She didn't turn around until all of the zips and clicks had finished, and her two coworkers had disappeared out the door. When it was finally over, she collapsed into her chair, her headache suddenly a million times worse.

Honestly, how _stupid _could someone be? Maybe threatening to kill them in so many words was a little harsh, but it had to be done- she didn't want Hayner's goddamn spunk getting sucked into the computer. Ew. Plus, Kairi's rule for the computer applied to real life, as well.

If _she _wasn't having sex, no one else got to, either.

God. Had it really been two years since she'd had sex? _Yes_, her body whined pathetically. Kairi decided to ignore it.

"Are you all right, Kairi?" Naminé popped up on the monitor directly in front of her. Apparently she had waited until Kairi's lecture was over to come out and ask. She was considerate, that Naminé.

"Hi, Nam. I am now," she answered semi-truthfully. Since Naminé had asked about her, it seemed only polite that she should ask how Naminé's work was going, as well. "How's, uh, the thing?"

"Difficult. Very difficult." Kairi blinked. That was _not _the response she'd been expecting. Naminé was rarely that honest- it was all right away, ma'am and when do you want that done? She'd never stopped to think about whether Naminé's job was hard on her. She was a computer program, after all. Work was what they did.

"Does that mean… it's not possible?" Kairi asked hopefully.

"No. It is possible." Damn. "But the task is more difficult than I expected."

"Well, don't over-exert yourself," Kairi told her. She didn't want Naminé to try too hard at a job she was supposed to fail, after all. And it was true that Kairi really, really wanted her to fail. She didn't want her beloved system to be used for _that_, least of all all of the people inside it. Ok, so she'd met most of them and most of them were total assholes on top of their criminal records. But that didn't make it _right._

Much to her surprise, Naminé's face brightened noticeably at what she'd said. Naminé's expressions were very difficult to read, but in this case, even bonehead Hayner could have noticed. Kairi's exhortation not to work too hard had made her very happy.

"Thank you, Kairi," was all she said, and she disappeared back into the computer.

Well, that was weird. Who knew that the girl was so starved for appreciation, or that she even could be? Kairi made a mental note to compliment her more often. Naminé _was _the hardest worker on the team, both by default as the computer and in the amount of extra work she took on. Was it possible for a computer to be over-extended?

These were all very deep questions, and ones Kairi didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. She still had to take that nap, and hopefully sleep would scrub the image of Hayner's naked body from her brain. A girl could hope, right? She clicked print, and allowed the rustling of the pages upon pages of stats to whisper her to sleep.

* * *

Marluxia didn't think very much, preferring to just watch the world around him without bothering with any sort of analysis. Things were more comfortable that way, easier, and the strategy had served him well thus far. Lately, though, a single thought had been weighing more and more heavily on his delicate, out-of-work mind.

Larxene sure was pretty.

* * *

Riku was rudely awakened by a rough shove in the shoulder. He cracked an eye open, and there was Sora, staring down at him with wide eyes of his own. Maybe it was the filthy air in Lowtown, or maybe they'd just always been that way, but somehow, Sora's eyes were shining with an almost ethereal light, emphasized of course by the expanse of glistening feathers on either side of his body.

"Riku," he whispered. "I don't like it here. I can't sleep."

"Try harder," Riku grumbled back. He did not like being woken up.

"I don't want to." With that, Sora crawled around to face Riku properly, scooting along quite comfortably despite being a creature of the air. Riku closed his eyes and silently willed him to go away so he could go back to sleep. He was mightily surprised when instead of talking to him, Sora mounted him like a horse, swinging a leg over his hips and effectively pinning him in place. When his eyes snapped open, Sora's nose was barely two inches away from his own.

"I don't want to sleep," Sora whispered again, and with that, he closed the gap. The kiss was, in a word, amazing- somehow sexy and sweet, chaste and daring, playful and romantic all at once, very much like the boy himself. While Riku had been appreciating Sora's looks for a while now, he'd hardly expected the boy to make any kind of first move. Not being one to look a gift horse (or bird) in the mouth, however, he immediately snaked his fingers through Sora's messy hair to deepen the kiss, and used his other arm to yank the boy closer.

He needed this. He would never admit to how badly, being raised in a very modest household by a single mother and all, but he needed this. Suffice to say he needed it pretty bad. He was alone in a sewer-town 20,000 miles from home, and if you don't have the physical comforts, then what's left to you? Sora's wings rustled pleasantly, as if he were agreeing.

The kiss was nice, but Riku wanted- no, _needed- _more than that. To test the waters, see how far Sora wanted to go, he slid his free hand down to the other boy's cute bottom and pushed their groins together, evoking a delighted gasp from Sora and, surprisingly, from himself. Something about Sora was exciting him more than usual- maybe the smell? Sora's scent was a delicious mix of sexy teenage man-flesh combined with the tasty smell of feathers. The wolf in him was enjoying it quite a bit.

That tiny push was apparently all that was needed for Sora, who proceeded to dry-hump Riku like a dog in heat. The two boys bumped and ground on the filthy Lowtown floor, stirring up enough dust to bathe a hippopotamus. Riku could feel the grime seeping into his hair, his eyes, his mouth, his fingernails, his clothes, but he was beyond caring. He wanted _more. _

Now both of their clothes were off, their bodies pressed as tightly together as was possible and then some, Riku's claws sinking into Sora's back. He silently thanked every single god he could think of, even tossing in a few he was pretty sure made up. Sora's lips were pressed against his throat, punctuated by a tiny nip now and then, drawing weird growls out of Riku that he hadn't known he could make while he was human.

Now Sora was on all fours, wings pressed into the filth, with Riku behind, sliding a claw along a smooth hip and preparing for the main event. Doggie-style was, appropriately, his favorite position- it was as if Sora could read his mind. By this point the claw marks ran jaggedly down Sora's pale, muscular back, and the blood was almost starting to settle the dust.

"Please," he begged, panting. "Riku."

Now Riku was pounding into Sora like a jackhammer, delighting in the way the boy's muscles strained around him as he dug his hands, knees, and wings into the ground to stop himself from being knocked forward. His head was tossed back, howling in pleasure, and Sora returned the noises in kind. The melding smells of the blood and sweat and Sora's sweet arousal were driving Riku's lizard brain hog wild.

Now Riku's legs were shaking so badly, he could barely hold himself up. He reached out and grabbed a wing to brace himself.

Now Sora beat his wings once, with a loud _thud._

Now Riku woke up.

He barely managed to bite his tongue to stop himself from crying out in pain and frustration, and in his rush he bit down too hard, filling his mouth with the coppery taste of his own blood. On top of that, while lost in the throes of dream sex, Riku had somehow rolled over in such a way as to pin his injured shoulder under the rest of his body, and the thing hurt like a demon. That hand had apparently been feebly struggling to get into his too-tight pants, while the other had reached forward to indeed grab onto one of Sora's wings. Sora was still peacefully asleep, and had actually pumped his wings unconsciously to get Riku's hand off of him, waking Riku up in the process.

Riku cursed that hand with everything he had, along with every god he could think of, including the ones he'd made up.

That had been an amazing dream, though, right? Even though he didn't make it to the end. Who knew that Sora had in it him, even in Riku's wildest fantasies? And that smell. That wonderful, wonderful smell. His nose was almost still breathing it in now.

Wait.

He _could _still smell it now. Riku widened his eyes to let them adjust to the darkness, and took a closer look at his sleeping friend. Sora's hair was sweaty and matted, and a tiny smile was splayed across his lips as he snored peacefully. Riku could smell the fading arousal, and the fluid that was almost certainly already leaking through Sora's jeans. So Sora had been having a wet dream too, and _that _had set him off.

That thought, combined with Sora's intoxicating smell, sent a quick shoot of pain through his nethers and reminded him that his own arousal was trapped in his pants and still feeling sadly neglected, driven mad by the pressure from within and without. He had to take care of it now, or he'd never be able to get back to sleep, and he'd rather not spend more waking hours in Lowtown than he absolutely had to.

A glance around and a quick sniff reassured him that his two bunkmates were still fast asleep- how Vaan had managed to sleep through _two _sex dreams and a wing beat was beyond him. Well, he was just going to have to sleep through a different kind of beat, as well.

Riku covered himself up with what he could, trying to maintain what little dignity he had left, and quickly unbuckled his pants and shoved his good hand inside. He shuddered at the relief brought by warm fingers on tender skin.

The entire process took less than a minute. Normally he'd be kind of embarrassed, but hey, it was just him and himself, and he'd rather not get discovered. He cleaned himself up with one of the rags, and shoved it back under his make-shift bed. They were so filthy anyway, he was sure no one would find out what he'd done. Besides, they'd be too busy cleaning up Sora's pants. The thought made him smirk.

As he lay back down and drifted off to sleep, Riku wondered briefly just what Sora had been dreaming about. Knowing him, it was probably something like bacon. Ohhh, bacon was delicious. He'd have to ask Sora where he could get some after they got out of this hole.

And so, despite the night's difficulties, Riku managed to fall asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

Roxas closed his eyes. The lights in the shower were hurting them, so it was better to keep them closed. Plus, this way he wouldn't get water in his eyes like he always did. Yes, this was an excellent plan.

Approximately five seconds later, Roxas opened his eyes. The harsh, institutional shower water shot him directly in the face, and he shrieked in distress. In an instant Axel was there to rescue him.

"Roxas, you can't open your eyes in the shower. I tell you that every time," Axel scolded him gently, using his shoulders to turn him around so he wouldn't be facing into the water that had hurt him. "Why don't you remember?" That last part was more to himself, it seemed, but Roxas didn't notice. He was too busy marveling at a machine that could pour water out from the wall- and why was he standing underneath it here, anyway? Now he was all wet. He didn't like being wet.

"I'm wet," he complained, hoping that someone would hear and come help him, since he wasn't quite sure what to do. Some strange-looking red-head who happened to be next to him sighed.

"Yes, Roxas. You're wet. You're in the shower. You have to shower so you don't get dirty." The man took his arm.

"I know that, _Axel_," Roxas sneered, yanking his arm away. Honestly, why did his friend think he needed to be walked out of the shower? He was a grown man in his own right, after all. He was perfectly capable of walking and dressing himself. He was insulted. Axel, on the other hand, seemed genuinely surprised that he would be. It figured- Axel was kind of a moron sometimes.

"You know my name? Roxas?" But Roxas wasn't listening. He had to get on his sleeping clothes, after all, so that he could go to sleep. Tomorrow, tomorrow he would be learning. He came to Twilight Town Academy to learn, after all- it was a school for gifted pupils. Maybe tomorrow they'd even have combat practice. He'd never gotten to have a combat practice. He was excited to show everyone what he could do.

"Roxas." Axel grabbed his shoulders and spun him around so that they were seeing eye-to-eye, for the first time since their conversation had started, or for that matter for the first time that day. For the first time that Roxas could remember. At least, he hadn't remembered how very _green _Axel's eyes were. Their greenness surprised him. They were pretty.

"Your eyes," he said slowly. "They're pretty. They look like." He smiled at his compliment, expecting a similar reaction from Axel. Unfortunately, Axel just stared at him with those pretty green eyes, as if he were expecting him to say something else.

"They look like what?" he finally asked.

"They look like what," Roxas smiled. "Silly." He broke away from Axel and reached for his pajamas, but his body didn't seem to be able to reach and stay upright all at once, so he collapsed to the floor in a very ungraceful manner. Axel immediately dove to scoop him up, setting him back on his own two feet and handing him the treacherous pajama pants himself. At the last second, Axel seemed to decide that that was a terrible idea, and he plopped Roxas down onto a nearby seat and started putting the pants on himself, all while Roxas entertained himself by watching his toes wiggle.

Roxas blinked, and a stranger was stripping him in a foreign locker room.

"What are you doing!? Who the hell are you!?" His eyes widened and he immediately kicked upwards, simultaneously knocking the pervert away from him and further entangling himself in his half-on pants, which somehow caused him to lose his seated balance and tumble to the floor. On the way down he banged his head on the wall and began to cry. Axel had already recovered from the kick to the chin, but this time, he didn't rush to help Roxas off the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked sharply. Roxas sniffled pathetically.

"My head hurts." That was the honest truth. And now that he was thinking about it, his head _always _hurt- it split from sleeping, ached from eating, burned from reading, and throbbed from talking. Right now he could feel the bump from his hit to the wall, but that wasn't the main source of the pain- no, the pain was inside him, struggling to leak out his ears.

Apparently effectively spurned, Axel refused to help Roxas get dressed, so the process took considerably longer than usual. Eventually, however, he had his pants and his shirt on in the right places, and he hobbled after Axel to their dormitory, where the rest of the students were long since asleep. Axel also refused to help Roxas get into his bed, so he fell off exactly three times, each with a horrible clatter. Luckily, none of the other students woke up. Wasn't that strange? Roxas wanted to ask Axel about it, but he forgot how, so instead he just looked at him.

"Ok, ok, I'll help you," Axel grumbled. Not exactly the message Roxas had been trying to get across, but he was grateful nonetheless. With Axel holding him steady, Roxas managed to climb up into his bed with only one slip. He was very proud of himself. Before he could coordinate his mouth muscles into saying so, Axel had disappeared under the bunk. Roxas flopped back onto his comfortable pillow, but he misjudged the distance, and the wall met the back of his head with a mighty thwack.

Ow.

"Roxas? Are you ok?" came Axel's voice from down below, muffled a little by the comforters and the height difference.

"Yes. Good night, Axel," answered Roxas simply. He smiled a little.

He was happy that Axel was worried about him.

* * *

Sora was on the beach, ankle-deep in the waves, wiggling his toes in the sticky sand. Swimming wasn't an option, of course, since he'd sink like a stone, but he still enjoyed coming here. Today, the sun was smiling down at him, warming his face, giving him a clear view of the horizon. Usually he came here at night. He hadn't been here during the day since, you know, before.

After his parents had died, and after his wings had started growing out of control, Sora would climb on his bike and sneak down to the beach, always without Cloud knowing. There he'd sit, for hours and hours, just staring at the spot where the sky met the sea and wondering when that hazy emptiness was going to come swallow him up and end the world. He'd thought his life was over back then.

Today, though, today was better. Sora smiled as he felt two arms snake around his middle, two lips press into his neck. His wings dropped forward over his shoulders to make room, the ends dipping lazily into the tide.

"Sora," was all Riku said. His breath was in Sora's hair, his hands rubbed Sora's hips, only the tiniest touches but they brushed against his skin like cool fire.

"I've never done this before," Sora murmured back.

"That's ok. I'll do all the work." Riku dipped his hands into the waistband of Sora's pants, and before he knew what was happening, Sora was on his back, undressed, wings pressed into the wet sand. He was still close enough to the waterline for the water to tickle the bottoms of his feet, and for salty spray to cool his legs.

Riku crawled on top of him and gently reached behind to grasp his erection, holding Sora steady as he lowered himself, excruciatingly slowly, until Sora was buried all the way up to the hilt. Sora himself gasped in shock and balled his fists on the sand.

"Shh. Just relax," Riku whispered. And he rocked forward. And then back. And then forward. Again and again he moved, setting a slow rhythm that matched the rush of the waves. Sora sighed happily, and his eyes fluttered closed. Riku's warmth spread out over his hips and belly, matching the warmth of the sun. This, this was heaven.

They stayed that way for a long while, just enjoying the feel of skin on skin. Only once did Sora try to thrust upwards, but Riku just smiled and reminded him that he was the one doing the work today. From that point on, Riku kept one hand pressed on Sora's lower abdomen to keep him in place, a motion that sent an explosion of butterflies shooting through Sora's entrails.

After a while, both forever and an instant, however, Riku's movements began to gain a hint of urgency. He pushed harder on Sora's hips, riding him up and down, and began to stroke his own erection. Sora tried to help, but Riku swatted his hand away. So he settled into enjoying the view, the fading sunlight shining off of Riku's silver hair, the beads of sweat dripping down Riku's chest, all offset by a beautiful sunset, the smell of the ocean, and the crows of seagulls circling peacefully overhead.

All in all, it was probably the most idyllic sex ever had by anyone.

Too soon, Sora began to feel a familiar twinge building in the cavity between his pelvic bone and the base of his spine. He shuddered as Riku picked up his pace. The twinge burned slowly, content to let things run their course, growing an almost immeasurable bit with each of Riku's movements.

Riku came with a shout, spilling hot sticky semen all over Sora's chest and stomach. His eyes rolled back in his head and he threw his head back in the most beautiful display of primal ecstasy Sora had ever seen. What came next, however, was even better.

After Riku was finished, he still kept going, urging Sora to orgasm. For a split second, though, he lost his balance, tumbling forward onto Sora's chest and reaching out a hand to steady himself. The hand connected with the arch of Sora's wing, fingers brushing against the thin skin, grasping the bone underneath for balance.

It was as if Sora's entire left side had exploded.

The tiny rub set off a host of bottle-rockets to bounce and ricochet wildly 'round his insides, only to finish up gloriously with a mighty explosion in his groin. Sora came so hard he couldn't see. Whether it was because he really couldn't see or because his eyes were closed, he wasn't entirely sure. His entire body bucked upwards and his wings beat dully into the sand. At the same moment, an especially large wave crashed into Riku's back, drenching them both in salty sweetness and sending them tumbling apart from each other. Riku was the first to recover, and he laughed a little.

"So. Wings are a sensitive spot, huh?" Sora didn't answer. The beach was already fading away, and all that was left was himself, the heat from the sun, the slick wetness of the ocean, and Riku. Always Riku.

Sora went to lie down, but nothing caught him. He fell back, tumbling head over heels, driven by blind ecstasy back into peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Demyx was usually the first out of the shower, since he could make the water clean him however he wanted. Today, however, Zexion was already in the dressing room and mostly dressed when Demyx stepped out. That made Demyx happy. Zexion wasn't feeling well, after all, and he wanted to cheer him up.

"Hi, Zexion," he greeted cheerfully. Zexion hadn't seen him come in because he'd been pulling a shirt over his head, so the second voice made him jump in surprise. But when Zexion saw who had spoken, instead of the relaxed expression Demyx had been expecting, his lips curved downwards into a frown.

"Demyx," he said tonelessly. "Don't talk to me." Harsher words had never been spoken at Twilight Town Academy, and for a moment Demyx wasn't quite sure what happened.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"Don't talk to me. Don't talk to me until you remember what I showed you." With that cryptic order, Zexion turned his back and left. He hadn't even been able to meet Demyx's eyes.

Demyx didn't understand.

_What I showed you. __**What**__ I showed you. What __**I**__ showed you. What I __**showed **__you. What I showed __**you**__. What? _

No matter what rhythm he put the words into, he couldn't make any sense out of them at all. He wanted to ask Zexion to clarify, but he had two problems with that- first of all, Zexion was asleep, and secondly, he wasn't supposed to talk to him. The whole situation was frustrating Demyx very badly. He lay awake on his bed, listening to Roxas fall down and hurt himself over and over, but that didn't help him understand, either. Unless maybe Roxas or Axel knew what Zexion was talking about? But something in his…. Well, something was telling him that they wouldn't know. This was a Zexion thing.

The more he thought about it, the more distressed Demyx got. He just wanted to _help. _How could Zexion tell him not to talk to him anymore? And besides, no one ever offered to help Demyx when he was upset.

At that realization, Demyx sat upright with a jolt.

It was true. He was always asking people if they were all right, and no one spared a second thought for him. He remembered Axel's words, when Roxas had tried to talk to him- _Don't worry about him. _Yeah, don't worry about Demyx.

After all, he's just a pretty face.

With a snarl, Demyx whirled around and punched the wall as hard as he could. The wall, as if mocking him, refused to give at all, and the pain from the contact reverberated all the way up to his shoulder. Well, pain didn't stop Demyx. No sir. Not at all. He pulled his fist back for another hit, and-

"Roxas? Are you ok?" Demyx heard the words from across the dormitory, and he paused. He blinked.

Why did his arm hurt so badly all of a sudden? He would have to ask Professor Naminé about it tomorrow, _after_ he confronted Zexion. Thinking about his friend now was only agitating him, so they'd just have to talk about it after a good night's rest.

Satisfied with that plan, Demyx lay back down and finally went to sleep.

* * *

Woot.

Tune in next time, wherein Sora beats it, Demyx rides the boogie, Axel's Bad, Zexion is a smooth criminal, and Roxas tells Axel that not only does his body bang, but he misses the conversation, too. (One of these things is not like the other.)

Q OF THE DAY: Ask me a question! Any question at all. I will do my best to answer it, assuming it doesn't ruin the plot. :)

I will even give you an example question. In reviews, Poke-the-Jello asked me how I came up with the names for all of the Nobodies. I happily oblige!

Lawrence Baker, Michael Adey, and Lucas Owen I just made up, as English is my first language. Marcos Garcia and Lola Guerra I just made up, as I speak Spanish. (Guerra means war.) Zaim Abbas, Botan Shimizu, and Ivars Vanags I pulled out of my ass with the help of Wikipedia and Google. Sha Ai Wen and Zeke McLane come from people I actually know. Démé Desmarais is fun because it rhymes- Desmarais is a pretty ordinary French last name that means 'of the marsh,' appropriate for our watery friend. Alexei Gorodetsky is also cool because it rhymes- Alexei for Axel, and Gorodetsky for the main character in Nightwatch, because my beta told me chapter 1 read like a Nightwatch crossover. And, of course, Rock Mann is a Megaman reference that made and still makes me giggle.

Ask away, lovelies :)


	24. Chapter 24

*ATTENTION READERS WHO SPEAK JAPANESE*

I know I have at least one reader in Japan, thanks to the ffnet stalker system, LOL. Anyway, I would like Riku to talk in Japanese- it's just one sentence and if you translate it for me I might possibly love you forever and write you free fanfic….?

*ATTENTION THEM AND EVERYONE ELSE*

HELLO, all! Thank you to Poke-the-Jello, shushan, Ninny-na, infinityinmirrors, tk-chan13, andhearts, xXxSmidgexXx, LiteraryMirage, NarusaS, muumuu122, and key46812 for reviews! I'm gonna post my answers here- if you'd like to skip ahead to the story, just jump down to the line break.

**Why is Leon a vampire?**

His VA in Kingdom Hearts 1 was none other than David Boreanaz, who played vampire dreamboat Angel on TV. The powers I gave all of them are linked to the game, though mostly on weird theories of mine and very, very tenuous grounds.

**Are the first six or so Nobodies really brain-dead?**

For the first five, well, we'll just have to see. ;) Despite his odd behavior, Zexion is not brain-dead. Some may argue that he is, in fact, more lucid than the other Nobodies in his group. Whether my writing is good enough to convey such nuances is up for debate, LOL.

**Is Riku a virgin?**

Nope! Sora is. He's the only virgin of the entire main cast, hence the creepy obsession with having sex with himself in Leon's bathroom.

**Was Penelo blushing because of the Holette action, or because Kairi was naked?**

Because Kairi was naked.

**Are you going to slash Kairi and Penelo?**

Maaaaaaaaaybe. ;)

**What is everyone wearing? **

This was my favorite, because I had to think about it for a while. Let's see. Sora wears over-sized wife beaters with extra fabric cut out of the back, which he pulls up over his feet since he can't pull them over his head/wings, and then normal jeans and sneakers. Riku wears all black, plus either a jacket with a hood or one of them hipster hats you tuck your hair into if he's hiding it, and he has been known to shave his eyebrows. Cloud and Leon just wear normal t-shirts and jeans, though Leon wears all his belts when he's being fancy. Kairi, Penelo and the rest of the DiZ folks wear standard-issue white smock dresses or shirt/pants combos depending on gender, with lab coats and practical footwear. The folks inside the Twilight Town system wear very bland sweat pants / t-shirt combos, and Naminé displays herself in her standard white dress. Ansem and Sephiroth wear expensive suits. Kytes has his weird cobbled-together dress/robe thing, and Vaan wears stolen shirts and jeans from up top. In terms of looks, Demyx is by far the prettiest, though the poor folks in Twilight Town are too wiped to realize what they're missing, LOL. The characters also have a smattering of different ethnicities.

**If the sky is blue and the grass is green, why isn't the air yellow?**

The air actually is yellow in Erased. LOL. This question wins the QotD. :D

* * *

Cloud awoke hungry enough to kill. At present he was surrounded by the comforting smell of another vampire- he must be in a nest of some kind- but somewhere beyond that, he could smell blood. He had to get to the blood. Deep inside of him, some last dregs of life, some last, hopeful reserve that had been lurking in wait his entire life just for this express purpose, sprang into action and flowed up and out into his limbs.

This was Cloud Strife's last hurrah.

His legs were completely unresponsive. That meant his body was redirecting as much of his energy as it could upwards to keep his organs functioning. It didn't really matter- he didn't need his legs. His arms were more than enough to win the race against major organ failure.

With a single deep breath and one mighty heave, Cloud shoved himself off of the bed and on to the floor, not even noticing the pain as the hard wood connected with his weakened bones. A second push got him onto his stomach, the empty hole gnawing at his insides. He stretched both his arms forward and dug his claws in, as deep as he could, and he pulled. After the second pull, he began to feel his toes going numb. His body was eating itself from the bottom up. One more pull and he was outside the kitchen, consumed by the life-saving stench of frozen blood.

His vampire claws weren't strong enough to go through tile, so instead Cloud's arms went sideways, shuffling his limp body along by gripping kitchen cabinets. His chest muscles screeched in protest. The numbness was passing his knees, now. He collapsed in front of the fridge, wheezing desperately as his blood dried up and his cells struggled for oxygen. The organ failure was coming.

_No. _With one last surge, Cloud threw all the energy left in his body at the looming refrigerator. He watched as his arm lifted up and grabbed the door handle. He watched as he pulled it open. The blood was right there, mere inches away.

He grabbed it.

Cloud half bit down, and half shoved the bag onto his teeth. His throat released a sharp squeal-hiss at the sudden coldness splashing the sensitive insides of his fangs, but he didn't care. His gut sent incredible pains rocketing through him as it was forced back into life, but he didn't care. He wasn't even really conscious anymore- as if every single part of his brain that wasn't feeding him had completely shut down. The bag tore clumsily open, splashing more blood into his open mouth. He didn't care.

Once the first blood bag was depleted, Cloud found his second wind, his body apparently willing to give up the last of its reserves, knowing that it was going to be fed. Finally able to somewhat sit up fully, he tore open the fridge and went to town on Squall's food supply. Frayed bits of plastic fluttered through the air like demented snowflakes while thick droplets of blood came down like rain. It was, by far, the grossest, lowest, strangest, and yet most filling meal he'd ever had. By the end he was covered in juice, collapsed on the floor from sheer oral exhaustion, dizzy with the knowledge that he wasn't going to throw up.

He waited a few moments, breath bated. Nope, still no vomit.

At this point, Cloud was finally beginning to wake up. Sure, he'd had flashes of consciousness here and there, but between the puking, the starving, and the tempestuous hormones, not once since being dumped at Squall's church had he been truly lucid. Finally free from hunger shock and the base instincts that had driven him this far, Cloud was able to take stock of his situation.

His situation was bad.

Before he was able to think on it any further, a loud clank and a shout from somewhere down the hall caught his attention. Soon he realized that the one banging was Squall, and it was directed him.

"Don't puke in my kitchen!" he was shouting. Within seconds, Squall came crashing through the tiny kitchen door, laden down with towels and buckets. "Don't puke in my kitchen!" he screeched again, dragging to a halt just as he noticed where exactly Cloud was.

Cloud was lying on his back, covered in torn up plastic, grinning sheepishly up at his friend upside-down, looking for all the world like a dog who'd just tipped over a trash can. He knew perfectly well how ridiculous he looked. His already filthy jeans and t-shirt were splattered with blood, plus, he _smelled. _Cloud was slowly beginning to realize just how bad a pukey vampire who hadn't bathed for more than a week could smell.

Squall blinked down at him. His eyes moved slowly over to the refrigerator, which was still propped partway open. Then he looked back at Cloud. As his arms began to relax, a slow smile spread across his face. Squall's smiles were rare, ever since they were kids, and this one was even rarer, completely genuine, with pointy white teeth and all. Finally, he dropped his pails onto the ground and burst out laughing. Cloud laughed, too. For a while, it felt good, just laughing like that, together again.

"I'm not gonna puke in your kitchen," Cloud finally assured him, still grinning, voice raspy from disuse. Squall giggled in a way that had been too uncool for him since age seven and plopped down cross-legged on the floor.

"I know." The relief was evident. Cloud was relieved, too, relieved that he wasn't going to die. His body had long since heated up all of the chilled blood he'd eaten, and the warmth was spreading down to the tips of his appendages, causing a sort of tingly sensation that reminded Cloud just how close he'd been to losing his legs not ten minutes before. He gratefully wiggled his toes.

The two vampires sat like that for a while, in total silence. Being best friends since childhood, Cloud and Squall didn't really have to talk with words. Cloud knew that Squall was just happy to be near his friend knowing that he wasn't dead or dying, and he knew Squall knew how grateful he was for being taken care of. Talking would be superfluous, really. They stayed silent as long as they could, that is, until they slowly began to be overtaken by the giant stinky elephant in the kitchen.

"I'm gross," Cloud said. Squall snorted, and nodded in agreement.

"Want to take a bath, Cloud?" he teased.

"_Yes_," Cloud groaned miserably. The stank was making his head spin. From the way Squall's nose was twitching, he probably felt the exact same way.

"Ok, come on. Can you move on your own?"

"Guh." Cloud carefully tested all four of his limbs to be sure they were working properly. They could move, at least- the real test would be if they could hold up his weight on their own. He carefully reached out, grabbed onto one of Squall's cabinet handles, and pulled himself upright. As soon as his torso got perpendicular to the ground, Cloud was suddenly swept with an especially bad hit of vertigo, and went tumbling back down in a rather undignified manner. Squall chuckled- honestly, Cloud hadn't heard him laugh this much in years- and bent down to help him up.

"Come on, buddy." Soon he was up on his feet, supported by Squall's broad shoulders. How Squall could stand being this close to him was beyond anyone's guess, but he gamely managed to drag Cloud's limp body all the way to the bathroom without gagging even once. He sat Cloud down on the toilet and propped him up against the wall while he ran the bath water and got some towels.

"Thanks," Cloud said weakly. He really was appreciative. No one ever took care of him- ever since his parents died, he'd been everyone's primary caregiver. Part of him wanted to close his eyes and pretend his mom was there, but the rest of him quickly spoke up and reminded him how creepy that sounded. Similar hairstyles notwithstanding, Squall wasn't his mother. Nor did Cloud especially want Squall to be his mother. So, with effort, he kept his eyes peeled open.

Soon, the water was ready. Cloud was dozing off against the wall. Squall nudged him awake, a faint blush spreading across his nose.

"Water's ready. So, uh." Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose with a finger, lowered his eyes to the ground, and the rest came out as a very speedy rush. "Doyouneedmetohelpyouundressyourself?"

"Uh. What was that again?" Squall's face was hot enough to fry bacon. No, Cloud was not at all used to seeing him emote this much.

"Do you need me to help you take your clothes off," he squeaked out, compensating for the slower speed by speaking almost inaudibly quietly. Cloud's eyes narrowed. What was this about? Squall had known Cloud was gay ever since they'd been old enough to know what gay _was_, and he'd never been at all awkward about it.

"What, are you afraid you might catch the gay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not contagious, you know." If Squall had been embarrassed before, well, that was enough to give him nightmares. His eyes bugged out, his fingers trembled, his knees knocked, all very un-Squall-like, indeed. Cloud could admit to himself that he hadn't seen much of his best friend lately- had something changed?

"That's not it at all!" Squall finally sputtered out. "It's just, you know. You _smell_," he huffed, looking away. Cloud sighed, but he could accept that for now. Besides, he actually did need help getting his clothes off.

"…Yeah."

"Yeah what?"

"Yeah, I need you to help me take my clothes off," he muttered, embarrassed. What followed was the most awkward experience he'd ever been through in his entire short life, and that _included _having sex with a vampire.

Squall helped him to his feet, propped up against the towel rack, which Cloud weakly grabbed on to for support. His shoes and socks had already been taken off some time before, so Squall decided to start with his pants. Face burning with the fire of a thousand suns, he clumsily unbuttoned and unzipped and unfastened everything he needed to, then slowly peeled the filthy jeans off of Cloud's legs, which were considerably scrawnier than he was used to. After Squall helped him shift his balance to free the filthy denim from around his ankles, he stood, apparently moving on to his shirt. Cloud may have imagined it, but he swore he felt thumbs tenderly stroking his hip bones before his friend pulled the t-shirt upwards, exposing his muscular stomach and every single one of his ribs.

Cloud's body was shrunken and sickly, even despite the life-saving meal it had finally been given. He hazarded a glance downwards, and immediately felt nauseous. Where powerful muscles had once been, now there was just loose skin, dotted with the usual blonde fur on his chest and belly, though it was matted and rather sad-looking. He'd been a golden boy, in every sense of the word- lean and muscular, a stellar athlete, with a handsome face, untamable blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. In fact, he was such a paragon of American manhood that people rarely believed him when he told them he was gay, not even when he'd brought another boy to his senior prom. He looked down at his once-glorious body sadly. Now, well… now he was a demon.

"Uh, ok. I have to do your boxers," Squall said, still blushing. "You feeling ok?"

"Yeah," Cloud lied.

"I won't peek," Squall promised, with a lopsided smirk, as if to apologize for his previous awkwardness. Cloud snorted.

"It's not like it's anything you haven't seen before, dude." With that go-ahead, Squall yanked the undergarments down and tossed them aside with the rest of the clothes, not peeking, just like he promised. Cloud, however, _did_ peek, and he was more than a little relieved to see that _that _at least had remained the same size.

Squall carefully hooked his arm around Cloud's shoulders, still not peeking, and helped him step into the bathtub, supporting him while he lowered himself into the deliciously warm water. He hadn't realized how cold he was. The warm liquid washed over his aching, atrophied muscles and almost made him forget for a moment just what a shithole his life had become.

Almost.

"Ok, uh. I'm gonna wash your clothes. It's just across the hall- yell if you need anything, ok?" Cloud nodded in agreement. "Once it's dark, I'll go out and get some more blood so you can eat again," he added, almost as an afterthought. Cloud wrinkled his nose.

"What kind?"

"What?"

"What kind of blood."

"Oh. Pig's. It's what most vamps eat, 'cause it's really similar to-" Squall stopped himself. "It's what most vamps eat." With that, Squall disappeared, leaving Cloud alone with his thoughts, filling in the blanks.

_It's what most vamps eat, 'cause it's really similar to human's._

Cloud was a vampire.

And that terrified him.

* * *

Leon carried Cloud's filthy clothes to his washer and dryer, content to let his friend bathe himself for now. His face was still flushed from embarrassment, something that wasn't especially easy to hide when you have vampire skin, so retreating was the best plan of action. Cloud would still be here in a few hours, after all- he wasn't able to go outside.

He was thrilled that Cloud was finally awake and able to eat and not dead and naked in his church, of course, but having him around was _torment. _Especially the naked part. Leon was stuck taking care of him until he could take care of himself, after all, and he didn't know if he'd be able to handle undressing him multiple times a day. On top of that, he was still kicking himself for his mistake- Cloud had interpreted his awkwardness as _homophobia _rather than attraction. How the hell did that happen? How could Cloud not know that he had sex with dudes? Was he really that secretive about his sex life?

Even with Cloud not knowing, well, that could be overcome. But undressing him, all by himself… running his fingers over that smooth pale skin, skin that would only get paler and more delicate with time, causing the dusting of blonde hair across his torso to contrast more sharply against his toned musculature, and… oh, God.

So, Leon had some problems, that was understandable. But he'd had to hold his tongue and hold back the one question that had been burning in his mind more than anything else.

_Who bit you?_

Back when he was younger, when he and his mother still lived together in that shady little basement apartment in New Jersey, his mother had been in the habit of taking in recently turned vamps. Her way of making a difference, she'd always said. She never told him they were recently _turned _ vamps, though, just that they were vampires. Tiny Leon would never have understood anyway, in any case- he was _born _as a vampire, and had no idea that there was any other way. He was a vampire. That was just how things were, and would always be, no matter how much it sucked.

But then, then he found out by accident, around age seven, overhearing a hysteric conversation, that one particular vampire had not always been so. He couldn't remember her name, but he remembered her face, older and gentle. _"I can't go outside anymore," _she'd sobbed. _"I have to eat blood. What will I tell my children? My grandchildren?" _His mother's voice was deep and low, and he hadn't heard her reply. But that was the moment where it had clicked inside of him. She hadn't been a vampire before, but now she was one. He made that realization even before her next sentence:

"_I feel so sorry for your son, living this way for his entire life." _

Leon, curious child that he was, was filled with questions. How did someone turn into a vampire? And, of course, the million dollar question, the question of all questions, and one that plagued his mind always: If a normal person could turn into a vampire, could a vampire turn back into a normal human?

His mom avoided telling him the details for as long as she could, only showing disappointment that he'd found out so young. When she finally did, it had all the sobriety of a mother-son sex talk. Eating people blood was so weird and disgusting to Leon's young mind, he couldn't even fathom the entire process. From then on, his mother didn't let him so much as say hello to any of the new vamps that came through, and shortly thereafter she stopped hosting them entirely, knowing he would demand answers.

But now, now he was taking care of someone who'd been turned, all on his own. His best friend. His crush. And he wanted to _know._

But he knew he couldn't push. Cloud wasn't even comfortable telling his friends that he had an Other in his own family. The thought made Leon's stomach churn. He couldn't say anything about it, though- it wasn't the time or the place. All he could do was wait for Cloud to come to him for answers about his new body, and see if he could glean any secrets in the process. His friend probably wouldn't be willing to talk about his assault for quite a while. And, of course, Cloud wouldn't give him any answers at all until he produced an explanation as to where his little brother was.

_Dammit, Sora, _Leon seethed. If it wasn't one Strife, it was the other. _Where the hell are you? _He'd never disappeared for this long, and this time, he'd taken a wounded werewolf with him. The full moon was weeks away, but still- who knew what that Riku kid was up to?

The stench coming off of Cloud's jeans was atrocious. The t-shirt was beyond help, and Leon had already committed himself to tossing it. Maybe instead of bothering to wash the nasty clothes at all, he should just grab his keys, sneak out while Cloud was napping, and get all his stuff from his old apartment? Yeah, that was probably a better idea.

Cloud's pockets were pretty much empty, since the cops had already removed his wallet before he'd arrived. Leon had thus far left his pants well alone, so everything else was still in place- the keys, some change, a few loose scraps of paper. He dumped everything onto the top of the washer before balling up the jeans and shirt and shoving them into a nearby trash can. Done and done. He'd let Cloud borrow some of his own pajamas when he got out of the tub- normally Cloud was a bigger size than him, but since so much of his muscle had disappeared, Leon's pants would probably fit him perfectly.

Satisfied with his schemes, Leon tried to find a place to put all of Cloud's belongings, such that they were. Well, all the paper scraps were probably trash, anyway, grocery lists and that sort of thing. He opened up the first one and cracked a sad smile.

_SORA TONIGHT, _it said. So, he was attacked on the day that he was supposed to come visit his brother. Small wonder he never made it. And that meant he'd been unconscious for several days, possibly almost as much as a week. Well, that was one answer for him- going from human to vampire took a while. He grabbed a second piece of paper.

_MILK, EGGS, CEREAL. _A grocery list, just like he'd expected. He knew Cloud's system of not-organization a little too well. Finally, he grabbed the third, and frowned.

A phone number. Whose phone number? Leon narrowed his eyes at the tiny scrap, as if it could give him the answer itself. Cloud hadn't bothered to write down a name. _It's probably not for a date if he didn't write down a name_, Leon tried to comfort himself. In any case, the number probably wasn't important, if it was a week old- Cloud wouldn't need to be making doctor's appointments or that sort of thing as a vampire.

Leon gathered the scraps up, crumpled them in his hands, and tossed them into the garbage with Cloud's clothes. Done and done. He found a little plastic tub where he dumped the keys and change, and tucked it in a corner where they wouldn't get lost.

"Squall?" His eye twitched at the use of his old name- why couldn't Cloud just respect that he changed his name, like everyone else? But it was Cloud, and he found himself unable to actually get mad.

"Yeah? Do you need help?" Unfortunately, Cloud did not need his help. His next question was the very question that Leon had been desperately hoping he wouldn't ask ever since he'd shown up at the church, as that question was the indicator that Leon was going to get a can of very angry vampire hurt opened up on his ass. No, it was not a good question at all, and it hailed the end of not only his romantic ambitions, but his natural life as well.

"Squall?" Cloud asked innocently. "Where's Sora?"

* * *

Oh dear. Poor Leon. His life sucks.

This chapter was betaed over the phone, with me reading aloud, and I giggled like a crazy fool the whole time. Oh, the melodrama. I love this shit. LOL.

Sorry for the late update- I was writing my fluffy fun piece, The Wonderful Thing About Axel. If you like Axel and/or Organization XIII silliness, you should probably go read it. :)

QUESTION OF THE UPDATE:

From my beta the movie-lover: If you were to cast this (or Kingdom Hearts in general) as a live-action movie, what actors would you have playing each role? Creative and funny responses inspire the authoress to update faster. ;) My beta, for whatever reason, wants Christian Bale as Axel.

In related news, Leon and Cloud are still fuckin' done professionally.


	25. Chapter 25

WARNING: This chapter contains an attempted sexual assault. If that's triggering to you, don't read this- it's only Sephiroth's backstory. I'll give a little summary at the end.

* * *

When he was sixteen, that was when it happened. He was taking the bus home from school, since his mom couldn't pick him up that day, and the housekeeper had to go home early because her kid was sick or something. He was alone at the bus stop. Not many people rode the bus those days. The early stages of war were beginning to break out, fear was rampant, and most people kept their families close. Not the Corvuses, though, of course- they had never been a particularly warm family.

In any case, he was alone at the stop, and when the bus rumbled up, he was alone on that too. Just him and the driver. Back then his name was still Seth, his hair was still blonde, and he was rather good-looking, with a youngish face for a sixteen-year-old, though he wouldn't hit his prime until his late twenties.

"Ain't you a little young to be ridin' the bus all by yourself?" the driver asked while Seth swiped his Metrocard. He ignored her and took a seat in the back, by a window. The sun was setting and New York was turning its lights on. The bus wasn't air conditioned, so he propped his window open and waited. He was going home to Jersey, so the ride was going to take a while.

No one else was even waiting to get on the bus, either, and he stayed alone as the vehicle hummed busily past each and every empty stop. Little Seth Corvus popped in his headphones and waited patiently while they got stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge. He was a little indignant that his family hadn't just sent a car for him, but then, they probably just forgot him again. _Slumming it is good for you, son, _his dad would probably say to him, without looking up from his work. _Builds character._ Yeah, whatever.

After finally crossing the bridge, the bus rolled on into New Jersey. The sun was officially down now, but Seth didn't notice because of the floor lights. He was just listening to his music, staring blankly at the padded seat in front of him- he couldn't be bothered with the time of day. What did break him out of his trance was when the bus stopped_._ At first he thought that they were at a light or something, until he heard the doors click open. He looked up.

A girl was stepping on to the bus. She was young, she looked like she was probably around Seth's age or a little younger even, but trying to look older, dressed in all black. She had a lot of make-up on, too, especially eye-liner. Her hair was cropped, her skin was brutally pale, and she chose a seat at the very front of the bus, about as far away from him as she could get. Seth had been staring for almost a full minute before he realized what he was doing- he was mesmerized. He had to talk to her.

Scooping up his school bag, he hopped down to the front section of the bus, and moved easily up to where the girl was sitting. She was holding her own bag in her lap, staring out the window, oblivious. Plastering his most charming boyish grin across his face, he plopped down in the seat next to her.

"Hey," he said softly. "I'm Seth. What's your name?" The girl startled and whipped around, her eyes going wide. She was even more enchanting up close, the pale skin and bright blue eyes. Seth leaned back and made himself comfortable, slinging an arm over the back of the seat to demonstrate that he had absolutely no intention of leaving.

"Dana."

"What?"

"Dana- my name's Dana. Hi, Seth, I guess." She turned back to the window, clutching her bag just a little bit tighter. Seth Corvus didn't take especially well to being ignored. So she was playing hard to get. This was going to be a challenge, then. He leaned closer.

"Dana," he said slowly. "Where are you headed?"

"Tenafly," she said tightly. She wasn't eager to make conversation.

"Oh, me too," he lied. Getting laid was worth a little bit of a detour, after all, and he could always tell his parents he got off at the wrong bus stop and needed a ride. Yes, all of his irritation at being forced to ride the bus was being swept aside by this sweet little honey who had tumbled right into his lap. Well, not quite yet, but he was getting there.

Dana reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone, flipping it open. She hovered there for a long moment, maybe checking the time, seemingly uncertain as to whether she should call someone. Seth was losing her- he had to pull her back into the conversation.

"It's nice not having to ride the bus alone," he said.

"Yeah," Dana mumbled, still fiddling with her phone. After a moment she flipped it shut. "I've never seen you on this route before." Bingo. He had her.

"Usually I drive. Maybe we could carpool sometimes?" he asked smoothly. She gave him a funny look. Ok, maybe that was a little too fast- he was used to the girls at his school. They knew who he was, and they would all be bending over backwards to get a chance to be alone in a car with him. He was Rufus Shinra's nephew, after all. A good connection to have. But this girl, well, she didn't know any of that.

"You must have a lot of money if you have your own car, huh," she said idly, raising an eyebrow, refusing to answer his question. The girl- Dana- was getting hostile, now, and it was clear she didn't want to keep talking to him. That just added to the challenge, though, as far as he was concerned. As long as she was too polite to tell him to fuck off, he was going to keep talking to her.

"I dunno about that," he said smoothly. "I was just offering you a ride. Geez." Hopefully she'd be upset that she hurt his feelings.

"Whatever," she muttered, and turned back to the window, playing with her phone again. Ok, maybe not. But that wasn't the only trick Seth had left up his sleeve. He'd back off for now. He sighed and crossed his hands behind his head, brushing Dana's shoulder in the process. Suddenly, the bus lurched to a halt.

"Here's your stop, honey," the driver said. Apparently she and Dana spent a lot of these nights together. Dana gathered up her things and turned to get up, looking expectantly at Seth. He picked up his own bag and stood up with a flourish, offering her a cheesy little bow. She glared at him and shoved past.

"This is my stop, too," he said quickly, but not too quickly, and he followed her off the bus. He didn't know this area at all, since he was still a few more miles from his own town, so he just followed Dana. She was the reason he'd gotten off the bus, after all, so better to stick with her. He followed her, whistling to himself, for a good five minutes before she bothered to acknowledge his pursuit.

"You live around here?" she asked, with the tiniest hint of snarl.

"Oh, yeah. Just a few more blocks away. It's nice to have someone to walk with." Dana stopped. She turned around.

"Really. What street?" she asked coldly.

"Oh, you know. Vine Street." Seth took a shot in the dark. Every town has a Vine Street, right?

"Vine Street is in the other direction." Well, shit. He'd just have to come up with some other excuse, or maybe declare his undying attraction. The girl appeared to want absolutely nothing to do with him, but hey, he had quite a few methods of, how shall he say, _persuasion._

"Ok, you got me," he said with a lopsided grin, putting his hands up in the air. "You're cute. I wanted to talk to you. Guilty as charged." Dana did not seem even the slightest bit amused.

"You're a creep," she hissed, and she turned and kept walking. The streets were completely empty. No one went out after dark these days, after all.

"Hey. I said you were cute! Give me a chance!" he shouted, jogging after her.

"Stop following me!" She reached into her purse to pull out her phone, but by then Seth had caught up to her, and he swatted it easily out of her hand.

"Come on, baby, let's just talk," he cooed. She snarled and bent to pick up her phone. But as she did, well, that gave Seth his window. He grabbed her around the hips and swung her around, pinning her against a telephone pole, trapping her in place with a knee between her legs. She was even more beautiful up close, those bright blue eyes managing to shine even through the dull street lighting. Without thinking, he reached out to brush her bangs out of her face, causing her to shudder. He leaned in for a kiss. He was not at all prepared for what happened next.

"Sorry, _baby_. I don't have sex with _humans_." She spat the last word.

"Wha-" She grabbed the back of his head, roughly, a whole clump of hair bunched in her fist and she yanked his face away from her. While she did that, she kneed him in the groin. The pain was unbelievable. He saw spots. He saw stars. He stumbled back into a nearby building, rough brick scraping the back of his neck. Who knew this girl was that strong? What happened?

Not content to leave him with a beating, however, Dana was back, catching him before he had a chance to crumple to the ground. She grinned, and for the first time, Seth saw the gleam of pointed fangs.

"Guess we'll have to teach you a lesson about how to treat girls," she breathed slowly. His eyes stayed on the teeth, shiny pointy teeth, uncomfortably close to his neck. As if sensing his fear, Dana's grin widened, and she dropped her mouth to the smooth, exposed area where Seth's perfect shoulder met his perfect, unscarred neck.

"Please," he choked, finally finding his voice. "Don't do this. Anything- I have money," he begged. The mighty Seth Corvus, reduced to begging at only sixteen years of age. But his pride wasn't the only thing about to get punctured. The vampire, for that was what she was, tilted her head back so she could make eye contact with him. She was still smiling. He was horrified. And that just made her laugh.

How did this happen? One minute he was following a pretty girl, and now he was about to die. What happened?

"Oh, come _on_," she giggled. "Would _you_ have stopped if I offered _you_ money?"

She bit down.

The memory was harsh, but sixteen years later, with a new name and enough money to buy a continent, Sephiroth was still running from that little vampire girl with the bright blue eyes. The one who ended his life. He hadn't so much as looked at another woman since then. He couldn't bear it.

After she'd forced him to drink from her wrist, she knocked him out and rolled him into a dumpster so he wouldn't fry up in the sun. That was nice of her, at least. Unfortunately, despite his disappearance being plastered all over all kinds of news, no one found him until after he regained consciousness. That was probably good, he figured, since otherwise they may have had him cremated.

That girl… Dana… she'd given him so many chances to just walk away. At first he'd tried to make excuses. It wasn't _his _fault that the one girl he tried to assault happened to be a vampiress on a violent vengeance kick. But then, slowly but surely, he began to accept his miserable fate. His life had worked out ok, though, all things considered. Here he was, practically the richest man alive, standing in the top floor office of his very own skyscraper, staring out over his beloved city.

He'd give it all up in exchange for being able to go out in his beloved city in daylight.

A dusky haze swept over New York, creeping upwards from the ground, gradually bathing each scaffold, each pane of glass, each body in darkness. This was New York City, unspeakably beautiful even in decay. Sephiroth still had memories of this place, before the war and before the attacks. They were small and distant, faded and worn like well-loved photographs, huddled in the back of his mind as if frantically protecting themselves from the brutality of the real world.

"Mr. Corvus, do you really need to color your hair that way?" Ansem's drawling voice spoke from the other side of the room, behind his mahogany monster. "It isn't seemly for a gentleman like yourself to make such a… bold statement." His tone was laced with apprehension, and maybe even a hint of fear. Not that he was anywhere close to aware of the _real _reason he should be afraid. Ansem was a useful tool, nothing more. Sephiroth leaned up against the window and stared down at the dull city lights, barely able to reach Shinra's peak through the fog of pollution swarming the streets. He was suddenly very aware of the high collars of his shirt and coat, and of the distance between where he was standing and the people down below. They were from entirely different worlds, really, him and them.

"Sir? Are you listening to me?"

"I like it this way," Sephiroth deadpanned. The words would sound petulant from anyone else, but Seth Corvus's voice was slow, deep, and even, holding within all the power of the Egyptian pharaohs, the Roman emperors, and the European monarchs combined. The sort of voice one expects to give edicts; the sort of voice one doesn't think to question. Sephiroth's charisma was thick and powerful and yet unassuming, the sweet scent of the Venus fly trap luring the hapless fly to its death. Five simple words were more than enough to silence all but the most hard-headed of men.

"Sir," Ansem insisted, apparently not noticing or perhaps not caring that he was treading on razor-thin ice, "It just isn't _appropriate._ What would the other shareholders say-"

"I can't stand those meetings. That is why I authorize you to do my work in my place." The interruption, the punctuated remarks, all carefully calculated to remind Ansem that he was _nothing._ Yes, Sephiroth had very little use for human beings, unless they were doing what he wanted them to do. Spending too much time with humans was uncomfortable to him now, unnatural- he would never admit that they made him seethe with envy.

Ansem seemed to finally take the hint, and he stayed quiet for a while. Honestly, Sephiroth would have fired him, but he was the only person he knew of who both possessed his skill set and was too dumb not to keep secret what probably shouldn't have been. Yes, he was the perfect lackey.

"Speaking of your work, sir," Ansem began carefully. Of course the silence was too good to last. "The Twilight Town Project. I passed your instructions on to Miss Smith, and she sent me an update today." Sephiroth finally removed himself from the window just long enough to take the manila folder from Ansem and put it in his briefcase. He would look at it later.

"With regards to Miss Smith, I trust you've set up the meeting I requested?" Yes, Kairi Smith. Something of an enigma, but an incredibly talented programmer nonetheless. Even while everyone else on the team came and went, the girl's performance had consistently been high. Shinra was just lucky that no one else had realized what a powerful untapped resource those war orphans were. If those kids had any other options, they certainly wouldn't consent to being locked up in a basement.

"Uh, I thought you were going to give me a set of preferred times first," Ansem stuttered. Rarely was the man caught off guard, but when he was, well. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "I-I'm so sorry, sir. I'll call her up right away!"

"No need. She's probably _working_," Sephiroth said, the heavy implication of the last word left hanging in the air. Ansem flushed angrily, but kept his mouth shut. All it took was the occasional unspoken threat, and he was like putty. "I'll just go visit her downstairs, in my own time. I'm leaving now. Hold my mail like usual." He always requested that Ansem and Ansem only handled his mail, not because it was necessarily sensitive, but more that he loved the way Ansem reacted to being told to take care of correspondence, as if he were a common clerk. The man looked like a shriveled tomato. The sight made Sephiroth smile, every single time.

"Goodbye, sir," Ansem said heavily. Sweat was dripping down his face- that also happened when he got flustered. Sephiroth didn't bother to return the goodbye, since he'd already said he was leaving. He just scooped up his briefcase and walked out. Ansem wasn't important enough for goodbyes, anyway. Sehiroth had to save them for the people who were worth it.

_Would you have stopped if I offered you money?_

_No, Dana, I wouldn't have, _he thought to himself with a little smile. But all that was over, now. He'd spent half his life as a vampire, and, well.

He wanted those years back.

* * *

SUMMARY: When he was 16, Sephiroth tried to assault a girl his age- turns out she was a vampire, and she beat him up and bit him to get back at him. How's that for some vagina dentata?

That scene was inspired by the EPIC first scene of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I couldn't very well call the girl Darla, so I called her Dana instead. lolz. Sorry this chapter is a little short- it was originally going to be with the Cloud and Leon stuff from last chapter, but then I decided it would probably be better to give dear Sephiroth a chapter all his own. He's just so deliciously sociopathic, ain't ya, Seph?

I published (YET ANOTHER) new fic- a Megaman X and Kingdom Hearts crossover. It's called Thirteen Times Zero and it's going to be a multi-chap. If you've been reading this and thinking "Hmm, superpowers are cool, but this would be way more rad if there were killer robots," or just mourning the lack of ZOMG KINGDOM HEARTS ROBOTS as a fanfiction niche, well, go read it.

Also, this week was awesome because I got a present and it wasn't even my birthday! I GOT FANART:

http:// 13loves8loves9loves6. deviantart. com /art/Erased-For-Becoafamu-130361509 (Obviously, you have to delete the spaces before it'll work- ffnet blocks outside links.)

See? It says "For Becoafamu" right there in the link! xD Thanks, 13loves8loves9loves6! Wow, that's a mouthful.

Anyway, I'm going on vacation. Have fun the next two weeks or so, guys. I'm OUT!

**Q OF THE DAY:** On a scale of 'Totally Awesome' to 'Really Crazy Totally Awesome,' how totally awesome would you say that killer robots are? Feel free to express your answer in the form of a haiku. For example:

Oh, Killer Robots / You Are Totally Awesome / Crazy Totally


	26. Chapter 26

Ta-dah! Now with EVEN MORE gratuitous oldschool video game references! Hope you like. ;)

Many thanks to Nitlon and Nitlon's-IRL-Friend for providing random Japanese! Thanks, Nitlon and NIRLF!

* * *

Sora woke up that day feeling unusually well-rested, considering that he'd slept on the floor of a dirt hovel in a polluted underground city. Every muscle was perfectly relaxed, even in the shoulders where his wings connected, as if he'd just spent an entire day basking in the sun on a flat rock, or a chaise lounge. Not until he moved to get up did he feel the reason for his low-stress state. The sticky, wet feeling in the crotch of his pants indicated beyond a shadow of a doubt that his body had decided to have some fun times without him while he'd been asleep.

"Well, poo," he muttered to himself. Riku and Vaan were still asleep. All he had to do was sneak outside and find a way to clean himself up, unless he wanted to spend the entire day smelling like jizz. So he grabbed a couple rags off his bed, stuffed them in a back pocket, and began the arduous task of standing up.

Sora often wondered how the world would be different if _all _people had wings. No cars and roads, for one thing. All houses would have high ceilings and open floor plans. And people would most definitely not sleep on the floor in dirt hovels in polluted underground cities. His wings ruffled and grumbled in protest as he tried to get himself up off his stomach, eventually succeeding with an awkward hop-flap maneuver that got him up onto his knees. From there, he got the rest of the way up to his feet the conventional way, using his hands. As soon as he'd done it, he let out a little sigh of relief, just as Riku snorted and rolled over in his sleep.

And right then, Sora remembered what exactly he'd dreamt about.

He clapped a hand over his mouth to hide a squeak of horror, just as he clapped his other hand over his genitals, as if they may somehow speak up and betray his dirty secret. Unfortunately, the silencing tactics were rendered useless by the mighty wing-rustle that accompanied them, the automatic fluff-reaction that happened whenever he was embarrassed. Riku mumbled something and rolled over again. He was waking up. Without another look back, Sora stumbled over to the door and out into the open air, such as it was.

_Oh my God, _he thought frantically as he hobbled away from Vaan's house. _What if I talked in my sleep? Cloud always said I talked in my sleep. What if they __**know**__?_ His hobble turned into a jog, and finally into active flight, as he took off for optimum speed. _I had a sex dream about a guy who sort of lives at my house! How am I even going to look at him!? Ok, get a grip, Sora, _he reasoned. _They probably don't know. But what if they do!? _

"Agh!" he groaned out loud as he landed. This was enough space to be comfortable, and he was confident he could find his way back from the air. Besides, he had absolutely no idea if it was actually morning or not. Or if they'd even gone to bed at night. Down here, there was no natural light to speak of- only weak lanterns, and the blinking lights of all of the miniature air purification devices. Kind of amazing, really, how similar they were to the giant ones that floated over New York. They were kind of cute, if you were into things that were miniature versions of other things. He couldn't imagine anyone with enough tech savvy to actually _build _one, though, not even Leon, and he was pretty good with computers. Vaan's sister really knew her stuff.

"Can I help you?" The new voice startled Sora out of his scattered thoughts, and he whipped around. He'd apparently landed somewhere near a house, and its inhabitant had heard him. The very same woman with the destroyed wings who he'd gawked at before.

"Oh! Er," Sora stammered as he tried to think of an explanation as to why he was standing in her sort-of yard at God knows what time it was. He barely stopped himself from apologizing for not knowing the dirt patch belonged to someone. "I was just looking for somewhere to wash up," he said lamely. "I'm staying with-"

"Vaan, I know," she said kindly, either not noticing or pretending not to notice Sora's eye twitch at the mention of the name. "I saw you yesterday. They're very pretty," she said wistfully, indicating his wings. "Mine were black."

"Ah, thanks," said Sora, embarrassed. He'd seen her wings. Not enough was left to tell that they'd even had feathers, once- all that was left was skin and bone and scar tissue. Now that he could see her up close, the rest of her was much the same way. She may have been pretty, once, but her face was heavily lined, whether with age or hardship, it was impossible to tell. Her skin was paled and her eyes dulled by years underground, and her matted hair might have been blonde in another life.

"We have a well. It's not safe to drink, but it should be fine for you to clean yourself up a bit," she offered, gesturing for him to follow her. He did, gratefully, pattering along with both feet firmly on the ground so as not to make her uncomfortable.

"How do you get drinking water, then?" he asked curiously.

"Vaan brings it," was her only explanation. "He's wonderful. You're lucky you found him. Or did he find you?"

"Uh, neither, actually." _I ran into him by accident because he's a big jerkface who stole my brother's bike and then crashed it into a dumpster and I hate him a lot and he sucks. _But he couldn't say that, after all, since this woman appeared to worship the ground he totaled other people's motorcycles on. So instead, he said, "My friend knew him." Which, of course, brought his mind back to the very graphic sex dream he'd had about said friend, which was not a good place to go to at all. Sora just couldn't win for losing that maybe-morning.

"Oh, that other boy who was with you? I couldn't see him very well. He's one of ours, too?" He assumed that 'one of ours' meant 'Other'- really, he didn't see the point in answering the question, since why would anyone who _wasn't _an Other even come down here? But he answered anyway.

"Yeah." She nodded, satisfied. They were quite aways away from the town, now, having been walking for almost ten minutes, and he realized he still didn't know her name. "Ma'am? Uh, what's your name?" She laughed a little.

"Nina. Nina Petrillo. What's yours?"

"Sora Strife." She startled a bit at the unusual name. He could see her tense up, wonder if he was foreign. He rushed to ease her concern. "Don't worry, I was born in Jersey. My parents just pick weird names. It means 'sky' in Japanese," he said helpfully, grateful that Riku had gifted him that particular piece of trivia. Which really made sense in the context of the rest of his family, and made him wonder why his parents never told him themselves. "My brother's name is Cloud."

"Were your parents Others?" she asked curiously. Sora hadn't thought of it before, but that would have made sense. But no, they were just dirty hippies.

"Nope. Neither is my brother." She stared at him, confused. "We're a weird family," he finished lamely. Everything he said sounded kinda stupid when talking to this woman. Battered, exiled, mutilated, with nothing left to live for but tomorrow. Sora's life seemed rather cushy in comparison.

"Yeah. Weird," she murmured, and that was the end of the conversation. Sora was uncomfortable now, and desperately wanted to either know where the well was or find something to fill the silence. Before he knew what was happening, his mouth was spewing out words he hadn't realized he was thinking.

"I'm sorry about what happened," he blurted. Nina looked at him strangely.

"Save your pity," she laughed bitterly. "I did it to myself. And no, it wasn't enough."

The rest of the walk was passed in total silence. When they reached the well, Nina turned and left without more than a terse 'goodbye.' Sora wasn't sure what he'd done to offend her so badly, but offend her he had, and he felt bad about it. In any case, now that he was here, he could clean the crusty spunk out from in between his thighs.

Now that he was properly alone, he had some time to sift through his brain and process everything that had happened. Most importantly, he owed Riku an apology. He didn't know what had made him go off like that upon finding out that Riku had lied about his last name- well, ok, he did. He was sick of being lied to by people important to him. Cloud's lies about the money, Leon's lies about how badly Cloud wanted to see him- for God's sake, he was _eighteen years old. _A little sheltered, sure, he'd grant that, but he wasn't some kind of helpless infant. He deserved to be told the truth.

Riku's lie had struck a nerve. But did that mean… was Riku someone whose opinion meant that much to him? Which brought Sora's mind full-circle, back to his dream. His face erupted into a hot blush, even though no one was around to see him or hear his thoughts. He immediately got down to destroying the evidence that said dream had ever even happened.

The water was an odd color, and had a very distinct smell- he could see what Nina had meant by its not being safe to drink. Sora was apprehensive about putting the stuff anywhere near his manly bits. But he didn't really have much of a choice, so he set to scrubbing himself clean. Once he was confident that his down-there area was squeaky clean, if a bit odd-smelling, he re-dressed himself and took to the air to find his way back to Vaan's house.

Lowtown was much bigger than it seemed from the ground. The houses, however, such as they were, were all clustered close together, and it would be easy to find Vaan's house from there. Sora didn't at all enjoy flying down here, anyway- the air was thick and heavy and his wings were working much harder than they usually would. He wanted to go back to the surface. But he'd promised Riku he would come here, so he'd stay until Riku found what he wanted. Within minutes he was back at Vaan's place, and he landed in the backyard with a mighty _thud._

Unfortunately, he was not greeted with any cheerful hellos.

"Where the hell have you been?" Vaan snapped. Sora assured him with his eyes that the dislike was completely mutual.

"I was taking a bath," he said defensively. He took a quick look around for Riku, and found him leaning against one of the hacked-together walls of Vaan's house, looking at anything but the argument that was going on in front of him. For the umpteenth time that morning, Sora remembered his dream, and he flushed. How did Riku _do_ that, anyway? How could he be so sexy while staring awkwardly into space?

"-supposed to leave half an hour ago," Vaan finished, apparently on some sort of angry tirade that Sora had unwittingly tuned out. Not that he minded, of course. "What the hell? Are you even listening to me!?"

"Yeah," Sora lied. "Ok then, let's go. Sorry, Riku." Then he noticed that Kytes had been waiting, too. All of them were fully dressed. "Er, sorry, Kytes." Vaan didn't get an apology, because he was a dirty Cloud's-motorcycle-stealer. Kytes apparently heard this, and snorted.

"Fine," Vaan said coldly. He'd noticed that he didn't get an apology, then. "Let's go. It's this way." He gestured towards a tunnel not far from his house. Sora, despite objectively knowing that there was no problem, balked at the idea of entering another dark, dank, crowded, cramped, obnoxious little tunnel. He hated tunnels.

"It's fine, Sora. You can walk between us and Riku," Kytes said softly. Sora was indignant.

"What? I'm not scared!" he huffed. "Lead the way, Don." Vaan shot him a particularly icy glare and strode off towards the tunnel without looking back. Kytes followed, then Sora, and then Riku behind. Sora immediately regretted his decision to put on a brave front, as the walls closed in on him. But no. He was firm.

He wanted to be treated like an adult, so he had to act like one.

Unfortunately, that didn't save him from being incredibly self-conscious of the fact that the boy walking directly behind him was smokin' hot and, if dreams were any indication, incredibly good at sex.

* * *

_Oh my God. I can't believe I dreamed about having sex with him. I can't even look him in the face without blushing. What is wrong with me!?_

_What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, I had a dream where I boned you last night. It was pretty hot. Wanna hit it?' _

_He's cute though. He has such a cute little butt. I want to fuck it. Oh God!_

_He's not going to want to have sex with you, dude. You're a virgin. No one wants to have sex with virgins- that's why they're virgins._

_I wonder if he's ever had sex before._

_What would Cloud say? Oh, wait, he's gay too. Oh, what if Cloud tries to steal Riku!? Oh wait, Cloud's missing! Why am I still down here!?_

_He's freaking out. Oh my God, what if he saw me checking him out? This is so embarrassing! _

_Keep your cool, Sora. Oh my God, he's freaking out. Oh my God, what if he saw me checking him out!?_

_It's just because I haven't had sex in two months. That's what this is. I just need to find some nice werewolf to have sex with, and then this'll all blow over. Oh wait. There are no werewolves in New York. God dammit._

_You know, before now, I'd have never thought that a teenager with silver hair could be hot._

_This is a total non-starter. How would we even have sex to begin with? Wouldn't the wings get in the way? I guess we'd have to do it standing up. Well, in the dream it worked with him on his knees. Any other positions would be a little difficult, though. Wait, why am I even thinking about this? Argh!_

_I want to have sex really bad._

_God, Riku! Nanntokashinakya!_

Kytes's left eye began to twitch.

* * *

The four of them walked deeper into the tunnel, headed for whatever Kytes and Vaan wanted to show them. Riku was walking several paces behind the rest of the group, both because he was tired, his arm still hurt, and he didn't feel like walking quickly, and also because he was busy discreetly checking out Sora's adorable backside. Sora himself was still between Riku and their hosts, since he was grounded and couldn't maneuver well enough to change position. Vaan and Kytes were out front, muttering urgently to each other. At least, until they stopped, and Sora stopped, and Riku didn't notice and crashed into him.

Blushing furiously, he muttered several apologies under his breath. While he was doing that, he managed to catch the very tail end of their hosts' conversation, and he was sure Sora did, too.

"But you're absolutely _sure _they're trustworthy?" Vaan whispered.

"Relax. Everything in their brains is totally genuine. Trust me," Kytes muttered, much more irritated than usual. In fact, Riku had never heard the boy sound annoyed by anything at all. Then he caught on to what Kytes had just said, and a slow, creeping horror writhed up from his insides and constricted his chest. Had Kytes been listening to everything he'd been thinking about Sora and his nether regions for the past several minutes!?

Kytes turned and gave him a withering look, one that seemed quite out of place on his young features. That was all the answer Riku needed, and he swallowed hard. Then he realized that when he'd crashed into Sora, he'd grabbed onto his middle to stop him from falling forward, and he'd completely forgotten to let go, resulting in fluffed up, irritated feathers rustling on either side of him. With a decidedly unmasculine shriek, Riku pulled his hands back, and began mumbling apologies all over again. Sora glanced back over his shoulder at him with an odd expression on his face. He almost looked… hurt. Kytes sighed dramatically, rolled his eyes, and grabbed Vaan's arm, and immediately started leading them once again down towards their destination.

They'd been unclear about where exactly they were going, but Riku was sure it was nowhere good. He thought they were going downward- in any case, the air was getting thicker and less pleasant to breathe, and on top of that, the _smell _was getting stronger, too. Since coming down here he'd assumed that the awful smell was just some kind of diffused general Lowtown stank, but going by the gradually increasing sting in his nostrils, the four of them were getting closer and closer to the source of the pungent odor. Riku's eyes were already beginning to water, and he was grateful that he was in the back, so no one could see it. He took a deep breath, pinched the tip of his nose tightly shut, and distracted himself by observing the delightful way that Sora's hips swung to and fro as he moved, to compensate for the awkward weight imbalance caused by the wings.

"We're almost there," Vaan's voice broke the silence, though at normal volume this time. He turned to Kytes. "Do you want to explain, or should I?"

"By all means, go ahead," Kytes said tightly.

"Ok, then." The group stopped, and Vaan took a deep breath, apparently preparing to go into a lengthy explanation of some kind. Sora stole a glance over at Riku for only the second time since they'd left, and Riku felt his red-blooded, wolfy little heart yip excitedly and chase its tail in a little circle. Oh, he had it _bad. _When the hell had that even happened!?

"It has to do with my sister who, as you've probably noticed by now, isn't here," Vaan began, in a quiet voice, as if he were afraid of being overheard. "We didn't always live down here. We're both war orphans. Our parents died when we were babies, so we were discovered in some wrecked building or other and grew up in an orphanage in Brooklyn. The two of us decided to bust out when we were 10-ish- we don't know our actual names or birthdays or anything like that. Fuck, we might not even be actual twins."

Riku listened attentively, completely enthralled. He couldn't imagine never knowing his parents, or living in an orphanage, or not even being sure if your sister was your real sister.

"How did you survive for this long?" he asked.

"Stealing, of course," Vaan said dismissively. Sora's expression visibly darkened, and Riku regretted having asked the question at all. "We lived on the streets for a while. Eventually we met Kytes, and found our way down here. Since we could pass for human, though, we spent most of our time on the surface- after all, there are a lot of things these people need that you don't find in the trash."

"The trash?" he echoed. Vaan silently waved a hand, indicating that they should continue following him. Kytes stayed silent for the entire proceedings, simply offering a solemn expression to confirm that Vaan was telling the truth. The tunnel they were in began to widen, and the tiny group spilled out into their destination. And oh, what a destination it was.

Riku gagged, coughed, sneezed, and collapsed all at once.

He'd finally found the source of that terrible, horrible, very bad smell.

Garbage.

They'd arrived in yet another abandoned subway tunnel, but this one was uninhabited, and for good reason. It was filled with trash. Mountains of trash. _Years' _worth of trash. And crawling all over the heaps of discarded treasures were Lowtown's inhabitants, in rubber gloves and air-filter masks. Miniature APDs were everywhere, desperately pumping out clean air to keep the scavengers from suffocating. Their feeble efforts weren't enough for Riku, however, whose poor nose was so sensitive that his sinuses felt as if they'd been filled with acid. Fat tears he was powerless to stop tumbled out of his eyes and splashed onto the filthy old tile.

"Riku! Are you ok?" Sora dove down to grab his hand and pull him back up to his feet, but Riku found himself unable to enjoy it. All he could do was cough miserably and shake his head and swollen face.

"It's his nose," Kytes said, and for just this once, Riku was grateful for his ability to read minds. "C'mon, we have to get him out of here."

Being carried past the garbage wasn't any better than standing near it, and a good deal less dignified. Remembering what Vaan had told him about the locals being more afraid of him that he was of them didn't especially help matters. As soon as they were out of that tunnel, however, Riku found himself able to breathe again, and his head slowly began to clear.

"So _you _guys are the others that have been attacking garbage trucks!" Sora exclaimed. "But why keep it all down here?"

"Where else would you hide a giant pile of garbage?" Vaan shrugged. "Besides, we need it. You'd be amazed the kind of stuff humans throw away." Riku was uncomfortable with the way these American Others used the word _humans- _no matter what anyone told him, in his own mind, he would never be anything other than human. "We've got a good compost going, too. We're working on making real underground gardens… at least, we _were_,before my dumb sister decided to run off and play hero."

"We're here," said Kytes. His arms were holding up Riku's legs, while Sora bore the brunt of the weight himself, careful not to wrench Riku's wounded shoulder. He opened a swollen, wet eye. 'Here' wasn't anywhere- it was just a deserted tunnel corner with some rocks. He'd had to put his nose through that much crazy suffering for _this_?

"Relax, guys," Kytes said tiredly. "This is just where we hide important things."

"No one ever comes this far back- the weaker ones would suffocate," Vaan explained. He failed to explain what exactly two homeless, outcast teenagers could have that would be so important as to be hidden back here. Kytes glared at him while Vaan reached behind some of the rocks to pull out a small box. A small box that reeked of last year's breakfast. Riku made a face.

"Uh, are you ok?" Sora asked again.

"It's just my dose," Riku mumbled pathetically. Said 'dose' had, as a last-ditch effort at self-defense , stuffed itself so full of mucus that he wouldn't be able to breathe properly through it for _days. _Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough to stop him from picking up some of the more exotic smells. Sora put an arm sort of around his shoulders in a sort of quarter-hug, as if to try to make him feel better. Surprisingly, it actually worked.

"So, uh, why did you bring us here?" Sora asked finally.

"You wanted our help finding your dad, right?" Riku nodded, though he had long since begun to think that this hadn't been such a good idea. "This is why," Vaan said, somehow dramatically and grimly all at once, and he opened the box.

The container was filled with paper, or what might have once been paper. Some of it was much too groty to be usable. But even so, Vaan and Kytes clearly treasured every piece. Each one was lovingly preserved and cared for, most in actual display folders to protect them from outside elements. Riku had no idea why garbage would be so important to them, but suddenly, he really wanted to know.

"What're dose?"

"Remember I mentioned my sister Penelo?" Vaan said, even more quietly than before. "Well, she works for Shinra. On a permanent basis. I haven't seen her in more than six months." Sora and Riku's eyes widened. They looked at each other, then back at Vaan. Sora was the first to speak.

"How-" Sora began, but Kytes quickly shushed him. Vaan continued with his story as if the interruption had never even happened.

"Like I said, we were homeless. Scavenging for food, the whole bit. And then one day, about a year ago, we met a vampire." Riku closed his eyes. He had no idea where this was going, but he immediately disliked the involvement of vampires, and the wavery, uncertain emotion that had entered Vaan's normally steady voice. "He was _fucked up, _dude. I mean, I can't even describe it." Vaan actually looked ill. "He'd been stuffed into a garbage can- we almost missed him. So, Penelo, of course, then she asks: What happened to you? And the vamp said: Shinra."

"Like the Shinra Company?" Sora gaped. This time, Kytes didn't cut him off.

"That's the one. The vamp was dead within minutes- we must've just missed the people who left him there. I mean, we'd seen loads of bodies before. Others die and get shoved into dustbins all the time." Riku blanched- how could he mention something like that so casually? Or was Riku himself the problem? Was Japan too peaceful and was he just too sheltered? He glanced at Sora for help, and Sora looked equally sick, though from shock or from empathy, he couldn't tell, especially without the help of his nose. Vaan continued on.

"_This _guy was the first person we'd met who was _about_ to kick it, and not already dead. The first death we saw with our own eyes. And, of course, we decided to do something about it." At this point, Kytes decided to jump in.

"Around that same time, we got a huge flood of new Others into Lowtown. People were scared. Apparently, Others were disappearing left and right." Riku sighed. So that's why he'd met so few Others in New York City- they were all chased into hiding. Kytes nodded at him. "Exactly."

"Uh, what?" Sora stirred from where he'd been comfortably quarter-snuggling with Riku, clearly having missed something.

"It's not important," Kytes dismissed. "Anyway, it seemed that vampires were especially hard-hit, which seemed odd, since they can blend quite easily with humans, and most of them don't cause any trouble, and there hadn't been any kind of widely-publicized anti-vamp propaganda going on, not since ROA."

"ROA?" Riku asked, confused.

"The Rights of Others Act. It passed two or three years ago. You know, the general no discrimination, no licensing, that sort of thing. The World Nation already had one of course, but the former U.S. refused to enforce it until they had their own version," Sora explained succinctly. Riku was impressed, in spite of himself. He hadn't pegged Sora as some sort of policy wonk. He reminded himself to go directly to Sora with any questions he may have about American politics from then on.

"Yeah. Before then there were loads of ads of Others doing shit like attacking kids. Nasty stuff," Vaan muttered. "In any case, there was some kind of huge vamp exodus or purge or something going on, completely unreported, of course. And after months of asking and digging around, we hit gold." Vaan's eyes glittered now, almost dangerously, in the dim cave lighting.

"The primary shareholder of the Shinra Corporation, and the nephew of the dude who founded the whole damn thing, is a vampire. We think he's somehow behind this."

"Dat doesn't make any sense," Riku sniffled. "You dink _he's _doing the killings? Why would a vamp kill udder vamps?" From his experience with the dirty bastards, they clung together like roaches, and were damn near just as impossible to snuff out.

"They're not killing them. Not outright," Kytes said softly.

"But you just said-"

"They're doing _experiments_ on them." Riku's eyes widened in recognition. He couldn't even look to see Sora's reaction this time, it would be far too painful. _Experiments? _What kind of experiments? And to what end? To think of Others, caged up like rabbits-

"So, uh, how did you find out that the shareholder guy was a vamp?" Sora squeaked. Apparently, the other questions were too horrible for him to contemplate out loud.

"He's not exactly hiding it," Vaan snorted. "He goes out under an assumed name almost every night. Most people are just too lazy or stupid to put two and two together and make four. And the humans of course couldn't care less what goes on in Other circles, so he glides right under the business media's radar."

"How- how do you dow about de experiments?" Riku finally worked up the courage to speak. He was this far in now, falling down the rabbit hole, he had to keep going or risk never knowing at all. And as much as he tried to fight it, he had a morbid, creeping dread that he knew exactly where they were going to land.

"Penelo," Vaan answered simply. And from there, he looked to be in too much pain to go on. Kytes squeezed his hand reassuringly, and took up the reigns for him.

"She got herself captured. I mean, she got captured on purpose. She wanted to see for herself what was happening," he explained, in his smooth, calming voice. Vaan groaned and buried his face in his hands, as if hearing this story over and over again never made it any easier. Kytes pressed on. "Well, instead of running dire experiments on her, they gave her a job."

"How would you know that?" Sora asked quietly.

"Before she left, she worked out a way to communicate with us, one-way. She told Vaan to dig through Shinra's garbage." At this, Kytes bent down and grabbed the lovingly wrapped trash that they had pulled out before, and he placed the pieces back down into the light. Every page was covered in weird drawings, or random numbers or letters, or marks that Riku had never even seen before.

"What does it mean?" asked Riku.

"She put it all in simple code to try to make sure it reached us," Kytes said.

"My stupid, stupid sister," Vaan muttered, though it was now abundantly clear that he didn't mean the words at all.

"Mostly it's just her telling us she's all right, and that she works there now. We don't know how or why that happened- the notes aren't very long. But more recently, she's begun trying to send us more information about the inside. Specifically, a major test program involving Class 1 Others, imported secretly from all over the world." Riku swallowed hard. The fear that had long since taken root now chose to blossom and fill up his lungs and his throat.

"You dink my dad's in dere," he croaked. Vaan and Kytes glanced at each other, then nodded.

"Yes. With the description you gave me, it's almost certain. If he's alive at all, that's exactly where he'd be," Kytes said softly, as sympathetically as he could. Well, wasn't that nice. In this instance, his best just wasn't good enough.

"You _dragged _me all de way down here just to tell me _dat_!?" he screeched. Were Riku's sense of smell functioning at all, he would smell _blood. _Lots of it. With a cry, he lunged forward, directly at Kytes's throat.

Unfortunately, Sora stopped him by grabbing onto his middle.

"Riku! Come on, Riku, cut it out!" Riku hissed and spat, clawing at dirt. He was blinded, deafened, rendered speechless and irrational by pure fury. The wolf was surging up inside of him, desperate for blood. But what was driving the anger?

Fear. Undiluted fear, in its truest form. Unspeakable fear, _human _fear, a deep and unrelenting terror that he may never see his father again.

"Dammit, Sora! Stop trying to _talk _to him!" And before Riku knew what was happening, Vaan's fist was connecting very painfully with the side of his face. Just the punch wouldn't have been able to stop an enraged werewolf, but when his head kicked back and bashed into a solid boulder, well, that did the trick. After the shoot of pain left his vision, the animal inside him gave one last disdainful snarl before retreating for good. The anger dissipated, and he found himself slumping back into Sora's arms. He found himself somewhat happy that Sora was holding him, even if it was because the other boy was afraid that if he didn't, Riku would go berserk and kill everyone.

God. What was _wrong _with him?

"I know it's hard news to take," Vaan said, sucking the bruises on his knuckles. "I reacted the same way when Penelo disappeared. But come on. We need you to help us."

"Our search has been totally useless," Kytes sighed. "Everyone calls us crazy conspiracy theorists. Even the Others."

"Yeah, seriously. Like, just last week I went to see this vamp detective on the lower East Side, and the douchebag told me off and then kicked me out of his church. And _then _I got hit by a car." Sora snapped to attention immediately, the wings making enough noise even to clear out some of Riku's nose.

"What did you just say!?" he shouted.

"The car thing? It was no big deal. Uh, I can't be injured. Class 2 Other. I know it's kinda weird-"

"No, before that! Were you talking about _Leon_?" Vaan looked confused for the briefest of moments, before his eyebrows shot up in recognition.

"You mean Squall Leonhart?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah! Dude, I _live _in that church! I actually ditched him to come here with Riku! When were you there? How did I miss you?"

"What!? You have an _in _with that guy?"

"Yeah, he's been my brother's best friend since forever. I've known him since I was little," Sora shrugged. Vaan's eyes lit up for the first time since he'd begun talking about his sister, and he leaned forward eagerly.

"Do you think you could take me back to him?"

"Uh, Vaan, do you really think that's a good idea?" Kytes asked. Well, as far as Riku was concerned, and from what he knew of the guy, Leon would most definitely want to know about experiments being carried out on vampires.

"Sure it's a good idea," Sora cheered. "Come back with us!" Riku nodded in agreement- he wasn't much feeling up to talking. But one thing was certain.

Riku needed to keep Vaan close. Vaan had a connection to answers. Riku needed to know, _for sure_, he needed to know that his father was being held by a multinational corporation before he could decide what to do next. The idea was so unbelievably far-fetched, and the only proof he had was a story he'd just heard from a guy he'd just met. It was all ludicrous.

But. And there was always a 'but.'

This could explain why his father had been missing for so long- why he hadn't tried to contact them- why the Guild had abandoned him- why he'd last been seen in New York. It all _fit. _A little too well.

"Riku," Sora whispered. "Riku, are you better? Can I, uh, can I let go of you now?" Riku then realized that Sora still had his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, to prevent him from attacking anyone. Both boys were blushing furiously.

"Uh, sorry," Riku mumbled. "I'm fine dow." Sora giggled.

"I'm fine dow," he sang, pinching his nose, a rather cruel imitation of what Riku himself was suffering. Riku shot his friend a dirty look, but he didn't really mean it, and the expression quickly faded into a sloppy smile. The past two days had just been much too weird for animosity to flourish. Sora seemed to agree, and he laughed softly, unwittingly batting his long eyelashes in a very, very sexy manner.

Neither of them noticed that Vaan had disappeared, but Kytes hadn't left yet.

"Ok. I don't usually do this, but for the love of Jesus." He took a deep breath. "Youbothwanttohavesexwitheachothersojustdoitalreadyandquitthinkingaboutitsoloudlyallthetime!" he screeched. Then, face beet red, he whirled around and ran off down the tunnel. Riku and Sora stared at each other.

"Uh. Do you know what he just said?"

"Dope. Doh idea."

* * *

Ta-dah! Back from vacation! I cosplayed Kaylee Frye. It was pretty awesome. So, extra-long chapter to make up for the break! Yay! And, well, I can't give any specifics of course, but suffice to say that the shiz is about to start HITTING THE FAN. Would you like some EXPOSITION WAFFLES and EXPOSITION CAKE to go with all of the lovely EXPOSITION you had today?? All this was planned from the beginning, so hopefully it wasn't all crazy out of left field? ... I hope?

Also, if this just isn't enough wackaloonery for you, I started another full-length multichap that's a lot less sci-fi thriller and a lot more fantasy-adventure. It's titled Wishful Thinking, it's an AkuRoku, and it involves Axel as a genie. OR DOES IT!?!? DUN DUN DUN!!! In any case, it's got as broad a cast of characters and just as much tenuous crazy plot WTF-ery as y'all have come to expect from my fics, so, uh... maybe go read it? Please pretty please? And no, no I will not stop plugging my other fics in my one fic that has readers. And you can't make me! ;)

Speaking of which, we hit the big TWO-OH-OH in reviews this past week. I love you guys. :D


	27. Chapter 27

Ah, sorry for the long wait. I got a second job and I've been busy, well, jobbing. But on the plus side, if you live in the Midwest and a surly brunette in a novelty Harry Potter t-shirt has served you pizza recently, maybe you've met me in real life. :)

* * *

Cloud sat in the tepid bathwater, knees curled up to his chin. He knew how he _should _be reacting- he should have been furious, he should have been screaming Squall's ears off and swearing to never talk to him again and running out into the street to find his missing baby brother. But he couldn't work up enough anger to yell, and he'd die if he went outside, so all that was left was a sort of dull emptiness.

"How long has he been gone?" he asked quietly. He kept his eyes carefully trained on Squall so as to avoid the large mirror over the sink. He couldn't bear to not see himself staring back out at him.

"Only since this morning," Squall answered meekly, clearly expecting some kind of explosion. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. He'll come back. He always comes back."

"He's left before?" Cloud asked. His friend immediately seemed to realize that he'd said the exact wrong thing to make him feel better, and swallowed hard. Cloud himself hugged his knees a little tighter, and dropped further into thought. He didn't feel well, that was for sure- he wasn't happy that his brother wasn't staying with Squall the way he'd asked, and on top of that, being a vampire hadn't gotten any more pleasant. Everything was too cold, and he didn't like the sensation of being filled with blood. He felt oddly bloated, like a swollen mosquito.

"Uh, yeah, but he came back," Squall stammered. "He always does, like I said. But then they left again." The immediate wince betrayed that he knew he'd said something wrong.

"_They?_" Cloud snapped. "What, are you housing a fucking circus in here?"

"No! No, Sora's the only one who lives here. Besides me," Squall said quickly, trying to backtrack. "It's just, this other kid got shot and Sora brought him back-"

"My brother almost got shot!?" Cloud wasn't sure whether to laugh, or shout, or cry. Who knew he'd missed so much in the time he'd been out? "What was he doing anywhere near a gun!?"

"I don't know! But he couldn't leave the kid to bleed to death!"

"Haven't you guys ever heard of a _hospital_?"

"We couldn't take him to a hospital! He's a werewolf-"

"YOU LET SORA HANG OUT WITH WEREWOLVES?"

"Just the one!"

"One is one too many! Jesus Christ, Squall!" he shouted, finally finding his anger, though it was dulled from its usual force by hunger and exhaustion. "I entrust my little brother to you for _less than a month_, and he's rescuing werewolves from street gangs and disappearing every other day? What the fuck!"

Even before he finished, Cloud knew he'd crossed a line. Before then, Squall had been trying to calm him down, but with that last outburst, his friend's eyes had begun to darken. He had no hope of escape- even if he could run away, Squall's body was firmly blocking the door to the hallway.

"Ok. I'm done. You listen to _me_, Cloud," he began lowly. His fangs were bared. "First of all, in case you haven't noticed, your brother is _eighteen fucking years old. _Chew on that for a second. When you were eighteen, would you have spent any longer than you had to in a shithole like this? And on top of that, he has _wings. _Even if I kept all the doors constantly locked and bolted, which wouldn't do much to keep him in anyway, have you noticed the giant fucking hole in the ceiling?" He jabbed a finger emphatically upwards, even though they weren't in the room with the hole. The absurdity would have made Cloud laugh during any other speech, but Squall's eyes were deadly serious. "He thought you _abandoned _him, Cloud. You come to me _bitching _about your money problems. I offer to take Sora in, free of charge, even though I'm not exactly the richest vamp on the block. And how do you repay me? You made _no_ effort at all to call him for _three fucking weeks_, and then didn't even bother to show up the day you said you _would _come. He thought you were never coming back." Squall took a deep breath. "And honestly? I kind of thought so, too."

Cloud was silent. Squall kept going.

"I looked _everywhere _for you! I went to your job- you're fired, by the way. I went and asked Tifa, and she says she hasn't seen you for two _months_? What the hell are you doing?" Cloud gritted his teeth.

"I wasn't exactly _planning _to get turned into a vampire," he seethed. "If you had _any _idea how I feel right now-"

"Ok, sure, that covers you for the last week. And forgive me for not being entirely sympathetic that _oh my God your life is so totally over_," Squall snapped mockingly. The words pierced straight through to Cloud's aching heart, but when he averted his eyes, they hit the mirror he'd been so desperately avoiding. No reflections looked back out at him- they may as well have not been in that bathroom at all. "You can't dump your family problems on me. It's _your _fault that Sora's not here waiting for you, and you're an asshole for thinking he would be. You can get your own fucking clothes back on," Squall finished, hurling sweatpants in Cloud's general direction. They hit the wall with a violent thwump.

Cloud gaped. For once in his life, he had been rendered completely and absolutely speechless.

"Squall-" he croaked.

"It's _Leon,_" his friend hissed back at him, and he slammed the door without saying goodbye.

* * *

"I think something is wrong with Demyx's memory."

Zexion pulled Axel aside before they entered the cafeteria. Demyx and Roxas didn't notice, and continued in without them. Zexion knew he only had a few moments before he and Axel had to go in as well. Something bad would happen if they stayed alone in the hall, though Zexion was too focused on his current theory to put any thought into why he felt that way.

"What are you talking about?" Axel asked suspiciously.

"Something happened, and Demyx doesn't seem to remember it at all." Zexion realized how silly he sounded, but he was beyond caring about silliness. He _knew _that he'd used his powers on Demyx. He _knew _how badly Demyx had been frightened. He knew those things, no matter how determined the world was to make him believe he didn't.

Some proof wouldn't hurt, though. He needed someone on his side. Axel looked skeptical, but he was listening. Now all Zexion had to do was confirm that everyone else had seen the incident and then he'd have evidence with which to confront Demyx properly.

"Axel," he said lowly. "Do you remember when Demyx tried to wake me up, and I used my powers on him? Saïx pulled me off of him- Professor Naminé came to calm him down? You and Roxas walked me to the showers?" He hadn't intended to include so many details, but he felt the need to repeat them, for his own benefit as much as Axel's. He remembered so many details. The memory _had _to be real.

Didn't it?

"Uh…" Axel hesitated, probably seeing the desperate hope in Zexion's face. "…no, I don't remember that."

"I woke up the entire dorm!" Zexion shouted. "Everyone was staring at me! And Demyx, he was screaming-"

"We should go inside," Axel said uncomfortably, effectively ending the conversation. Zexion realized how untoward he was being- shouting was unheard of at Twilight Town Academy. Professor Naminé would be angry, to be sure. He sighed, defeated, and followed Axel into the dining room.

Their usual seats were still open, with Demyx and Roxas staring sullenly at their full plates, as was becoming routine for them. Axel was the only one who ate anymore- Zexion's head ached too badly for him to have any appetite at all, and he'd noticed that he still felt the same after not eating for weeks, so what was the point? Demyx used to love to eat, though, and now he was just staring, completely blank.

Maybe he was wrong for telling Demyx not to talk to him, not unless he remembered. He'd thought Demyx just didn't want to talk about it. But now, after the fact, it seemed that Demyx really _didn't _know, and he had settled into a solid sulk. He was the only one of the four with any joy left in him, and now Zexion had quashed it.

Just then, Demyx burst out laughing. The laugh was harsh and forced. As soon as it had started, he stopped, and went back to staring dully at his food.

Zexion frowned. If Twilight Town Academy was making them all so miserable, then why were they all still _here_?

No sooner had the thought appeared in his mind, than his temples erupted into hot, fiery pain. He screeched in agony and collapsed forward onto the table. As he convulsed, one of his arms accidentally swept his plate off the table, sending it to the floor with a loud and messy crash. His wide, panicked eyes looked everywhere, desperate for help.

But it was as if no one could even see him. All of his classmates continued to eat quietly, as if he weren't causing a scene at all, or as if he did this every day and they just didn't care anymore. Fat tears squeezed out of his pained eyes as everything began to fade to white.

"I'm sorry it hurts you."

A female voice, soft and even, was trying to soothe him.

"Your mind is sensitive. Especially to me."

A hand stroked his hair.

"Just try to relax."

Zexion did as he was told and squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating on his breathing. The strange girl continued to stroke his scalp. He wanted desperately to see her, but somehow he knew that if he turned around, if he opened his eyes, she would be gone before he could even blink. So he stayed.

The pain subsided. The hand and the voice disappeared. He slowly reopened his eyes. All around him, students were still eating and talking. Roxas was putting beans in his ears, and Demyx was giving Axel dirty looks. None of them seemed to have noticed what happened. But Zexion did, and he held the memory with perfect clarity.

She was the girl from his dreams. The one who faded when he woke each day, who he could never quite remember. She had to be- there was no one else. But where had she come from? And where did she go? What had she meant by 'your mind is sensitive'? He was too exhausted to piece it all together. But even though he knew he wouldn't get the right answer, he had to ask.

"Hey. Did you guys see that girl?" he asked quietly.

"What? You mean Larxene?" Axel asked. Demyx looked away and didn't respond at all. Roxas's eyes narrowed in thought, but he stayed silent as well. Just as he'd thought they would. Zexion let out a harsh little laugh.

"Yeah. Larxene."

* * *

Penelo was flopped down at her workstation, printing out numbers and emphatically not enjoying her usual boring job duties. Her day had gone much worse than usual. She'd gone to get Kairi for her shift, and the girl had answered the door almost totally naked. Penelo had thus far been careful to keep her sexual orientation under wraps lest she freak out her coworkers, but she hadn't been able to keep herself from checking out Kairi's tits. She hoped to God her boss hadn't noticed.

After that particular incident, Penelo had gone back to her own room to take a quick nap and maybe a cold shower. She was relieving Kairi at six o'clock. Usually when the two girls exchanged shifts, they also exchanged brief greetings or whatever, and that was it. But this time, Kairi had apparently been waiting the entire day to scream at her.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" she shouted angrily. Penelo could safely say that she had absolutely no idea what her boss was talking about.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." _Care to enlighten the peons? _She would have said that last part out loud, but she'd already had a crappy day, and she knew better than to poke the bear.

"Don't give me that shit. Hayner and Olette." Penelo still had no idea what she was talking about.

"What about them?"

"While you were coming to get me, they decided to get nasty on the POEM." Penelo's eyes rounded. She stared at Kairi in disbelief. Then her eyes traveled over to the POEM, looking as sinister and uninviting as ever.

"You have to be making that up," she said finally. Hayner, ok, he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. But no way would Olette do something that stupid, right? But maybe- maybe they didn't see it as dangerous. For Penelo, that chair represented lifetime imprisonment. For the humans, it represented where they put Others to get rid of them.

"Not at all. I even got to see the action," Kairi said drily. _Ew._

"Well, they must have gotten started after I left," Penelo huffed. She was done with this conversation. She elbowed her way around Kairi to get to the main terminal and work on her data. Kairi of course didn't move, and instead stood still while Penelo pushed around her.

"They should be here soon to clean up Hayner's junk," Kairi said cheerfully. Penelo blanched, then suddenly hoped that she hadn't been more obviously disgusted than would be normal. Few things in the world were more gross to her than jizz. "I can't leave until they get here," Kairi finished, and she leaned up against one of the computer parts.

Penelo gritted her teeth, but didn't say anything. Honestly, Kairi seemed to _live _just to annoy her, without even realizing it. These shifts she worked alone were the only opportunities she had to really scour Twilight Town on her own terms, to find out what exactly Kairi was doing. Penelo still, after months of trying, hadn't figured out what Naminé was. By all accounts, she was just a computer program, like Kairi said she was. But computer programs couldn't re-form people's memories-!

"Two minutes left," Kairi whistled, drumming her fingers on a monitor. Penelo sighed and took the bait.

"Until what?"

"Until Hayner and Olette are supposed to be here. Before I go up and tell Ansem that they were fucking on our equipment." Kairi laughed humorlessly. Penelo just stared.

"You wouldn't."

"I told them I would," Kairi said grimly. Her voice was serious, and her eyes were cold.

"Kairi.. they'd die," Penelo said quietly. How could she even suggest _killing off_ her coworkers? Kairi had many things, but she'd never struck Penelo as a sociopath.

"It wouldn't have been much of a threat otherwise, would it?"

"You wouldn't," Penelo repeated. She locked eyes with Kairi, as if somehow she might be able to psychically convince the other girl to change her mind, even though Kairi was the actual psychic one. Kairi raised an eyebrow, and the stakes.

"Maybe I'll tell him anyway," she grinned, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. "I'm kind of sick of Hayner-"

"Kairi!" Penelo snapped.

"-clearly a hazard to have around-"

"Kairi! You _can't say that,_" Penelo hissed.

"Why?" Kairi finally lost it. Her nostrils flared, and she threw her arms in the air. "Why can't I? Why is fucking up the TTA so much less important than letting them fuck? Fourteen lives over two, Penny." Penelo seethed at the nickname. "I'm not letting anything happen to the system, least of all so fucking _Hayner _of all people can get his jollies!" Her breath was ragged, but she kept her eyes level, clearly trying to intimidate Penelo into breaking eye contact.

Penelo, however, was doing her best to read her boss. Kairi was frantic, and had totally lost her cool- it wasn't like her at all. Despite her wild mood swings and bouts of alcoholism, Kairi was always aggressively _rational. _But now, now she'd gone beyond rational thought. Her reactions now, her desire to protect their prisoners, those things were _visceral._

She was willing to throw down her very body to protect that computer. The same way, in fact, that one might throw down to protect… a family member.

And in that moment, Penelo's suspicions were confirmed, and all of the pieces clicked together.

"Uh, are we interrupting something?" Hayner's bitchy drawl came through the door, which had cracked open without either girl noticing.

"Nope. Nothing at all," said Penelo, and her face broke into a slow smile. She broke eye contact, on her own terms, to greet Hayner and Olette, who was blushing so badly she couldn't look either of them in the face. Kairi hissed through her teeth and checked her watch.

"You're a minute late," she spat, before storming out the door. Penelo could do nothing but smile. She had something- something _big_. Kairi couldn't touch her, now.

"God. What's her problem?" asked Hayner. He rarely asked anything else these days, it seemed.

"Hi Penelo," Olette finally squeaked, too embarrassed to look up.

"It's ok, Kairi told me," Penelo grinned, in too good a mood to deal with dancing around an elephant. "Honestly, that was a really dumb thing to do. Kairi freaked." The huge smile on her face made it clear that she wasn't angry at all. Hayner and Olette could do whatever the fuck they wanted. Penelo finally had the key she needed to get Kairi to tell her what the hell was going on. And then she could tell Vaan. She'd be out of here in no time.

"Oh, jesus. I have no idea what we were thinking- it's just, the other chair is broken, and-"

"Don't worry about it, babe," Hayner smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Olette blushed deeper, but smiled back at him. They really were cute, for all that Hayner was a huge douchebag.

"She said she'd tell Ansem- you don't think she really will, do you?" Olette asked nervously.

"Nah. No, I don't think she will," Penelo said easily, twirling a pen over her fingers. Not now that she had Kairi cornered. She'd had dirt on Kairi for a long time, now- she could have easily used her knowledge that the girl was an Other as blackmail. The problem was, Penelo was an Other as well, and she had no way to prove her accusation without exposing herself. That was an agreement they'd come up with wordlessly the very day they'd met. They'd each sensed the other's magic immediately, of course, and one hard look was all it took to communicate _I won't tell if you don't._

"Do we really need to clean this thing with toothbrushes?" Olette asked, wrinkling her nose. Penelo laughed a little- Kairi had left out that particular part of her story.

"I won't tell if you don't," she smiled. For a long while, the three settled into work, with Hayner and Olette finishing up their mechanical work from earlier in the day, and Penelo reading her data.

She wouldn't need to out herself as an Other to give the higher-ups Kairi's real name. The girl had won a major award, after all- those pictures must have been archived all over the internet. She wouldn't show her hand right away, though. All she had to do was let Kairi herself know that she knew, and the girl would be putty.

Penelo had spent _hours _pondering just whose side her boss was on. Did Shinra already know she was an Other? Was she expressly there _because _of her powers, or to out any other Others who tried to get onto the team? That theory was tossed out quickly, as the weeks went by and Penelo found herself happily alive and employed. But that didn't answer her question- why was Kairi there? Why would an Other be helping run tests on Others?

Well, now she knew. She'd assumed ever since finding the picture, but now she _knew. _She knew _exactly _whose side Kairi was on, and that she wouldn't do anything to endanger her mission. She _couldn't_, if that wild defensiveness was anything to go by. And that was all the leverage Penelo needed.

She was torn out of her thoughts by a loud knock on the lab door. Olette and Hayner jumped apart from each other- Penelo had been so deep in thought she hadn't even noticed they were making out- and all three stared at each other, as if daring the others to open it. Finally, Penelo stepped up to the plate.

"Come in?" she yelled.

The door creaked open, and a guard walked in. Penelo didn't recognize him- the people who worked in the basement were cycled through quite a bit, probably to stop them from finding out too much. She had a large suspicion that they were all orphans, like herself. Or Kairi.

"Uh, hi. Is, uh, Miss Smith here?" he asked nervously. _Not her name! _Penelo thought to herself gleefully, but as usual she kept her thoughts to herself. Everyone who came to the basement was looking for Kairi. She was the voice of the DiZ Team.

"No, but I can get her. Who wants her?" Penelo asked smoothly. She was feeling much more assertive than usual.

"Uh, Mr. Corvus would like to meet her," the guard stammered. Penelo had no idea that she, Hayner, and Olette were so threatening. Or maybe it was just the atmosphere of the lab, with the hazy air, the beeping lights, and the obnoxious glowing floor.

Then what the guard had said sunk in. _Mr. Corvus._

"Who?" Hayner asked, before anyone could stop him.

"The primary shareholder," Penelo sucked her breath through her teeth. She'd read all about him back when she and Vaan had been doing their research. Seth Corvus. The amount of influence he had over the inner workings of the Shinra Corporation was totally unknown, as far as she'd been able to find out. But if he knew about the DiZ Project-

"Yes. He'd like to see the lab, and, uh, meet Miss Smith. He and Mr. Wise will be down in half an hour," the guard finished. "Uh, bye I guess." With that, he closed the door and left. Hayner, Olette, and Penelo all stared at each other. Olette was the first to speak, her voice quiet and panicky.

"Oh God. You don't think she'll tell, do you? She was in such a bad mood!" she moaned. Her face was chalky.

"Of course she won't," Penelo said absent-mindedly. Kairi's vendettas were the least of her issues. Seth Corvus knew about the DiZ Project? Last time she'd talked to Vaan- God, so long ago- he was trying to find out more about him. But then Penelo had gone into Shinra. She knew plenty about Ansem Wise, but when it came to Seth Corvus, she was flying completely blind.

"Oh my God, we're so dead," Olette sobbed, clinging to Hayner's middle as he gently rubbed her back. Hayner would never admit to it, of course, but Penelo could see the fear in his eyes, as well.

"Relax, guys," Penelo said softly. "Kairi won't tell anyone anything. I'll make sure of it." She meant it, too- nothing would happen to Hayner or Olette. If there was one thing she'd learned from her sick mess of a life, it was that family weren't only connected by blood. After six months in this hole, well, Pence, Hayner, Olette, and even Kairi were her family, now. And she'd protect them the same way she'd protect her brother Vaan. Or Kytes, or Mjrn.

"What are you going to say to her?" Hayner asked suspiciously. "You'd better not piss her off any more." The threat was empty, considering that he was the one whose life was in danger.

"Relax," Penelo repeated. "I've got something on her. She owes me, big time. You guys are perfectly safe." Well, Kairi didn't owe her a favor so much as she was about to be blackmailed. But Penelo decided not to go into specifics.

"What have you got on her?" Olette asked curiously.

_Who she really is._

"It would take too long to tell you now. Just trust me, ok?" Olette nodded. "You guys get back to your dorms. I need to go get Kairi- it'll take me about half an hour just to get to her room and back. She can deal with the big guys." Hayner nodded, and the two of them left without another word.

Penelo quickly gave the room a once-over, to make sure nothing looked suspicious. She pulled out her print-outs and dumped them in the out box. Satisfied that that was the best she could do, she steadied herself with a few deep breaths, then left the lab and set off towards Kairi's room.

_Oh, boss, _she thought grimly. _You won't even know what hit you.

* * *

_

Kairi was agitated. That was nothing new, of course, but she wasn't accustomed to letting it show quite so much. After she'd left her team in the lab, she stormed all the way back to her room, pulled out a beer, and chugged it. Not even the alcohol was calming her down, and she was left pacing nervously around her oversized bed, for hours and hours on end.

The incident with Hayner and Olette- that had been close. _Too _close. She couldn't risk anything happening to the machinery, _especially _the POEM, and especially this late in the game. Her reaction hadn't been over the top, had it? Besides the people in the computer, Hayner or Olette could have _died. _It was right for her to be concerned for their safety, right? But no matter how hard she tried to rationalize, she couldn't avoid the inescapable truth.

_I'm __**not**__ concerned for their safety. _

The thought settled in Kairi's chest like a weight. She didn't care if Hayner and Olette lived or died. Well, she did in the objective sense that she knew it was wrong, but the thought of their deaths stirred no emotion in her heart. Her empathy was completely and utterly crushed.

Two years. Two long years, and no end in sight. How many faces had she seen come and go in that time? How many had it taken before she learned not to get too attached? Were they waiting to kill her, too? And if she ever got out, would she even be recognizable?

Kairi was back on her feet, pacing anxiously. Just as she was reaching for a second drink, a loud knock sounded on her door.

"What," she shouted flatly. Ok, that wouldn't do. "I mean, uh, who is it?"

"Penelo," came through the door. Great. Kairi's favoritest person in the whole wide world.

"What," she repeated, switching back to her not-caring voice.

"We need you in the lab," Penelo explained bluntly, knowing better than to try to open the door. Kairi rolled her eyes and sighed.

"What, you can't get along without me for-" she looked at her watch- "a whole two hours? Or are Hayner and Olette going at it again, and you just desperately want me to see it?"

"No," Penelo hissed. "Actually, if you care to know, Ansem Wise is coming down for a tour of the lab, and he wants _you _to give it to him." Kairi stared blankly at the door. _Now? It's eight o'clock at night… _Either way, she grabbed her lab coat, pulled it over her shoulders, and snapped open the door. Penelo certainly didn't look like she was joking.

"Are you serious?"

"What, you think I just wanted to come see you?" Penelo asked sarcastically. Kairi shot her a glare, closed her door, and locked it. Her heart was racing and her head was pounding, but she was like that basically all the time now, so sure, she could give a tour to the people who held her life in their hands. Whatever.

Unfortunately, Penelo was not quite ready to lead her back to the lab yet. She stayed in one place, staring directly at Kairi, hands on her hips.

"What about Hayner and Olette?" Oh.

"What, you're still on about that?" Kairi sighed. Was the whole Ansem story a ploy to get her out of the room and into a monster guilt trip? Penelo glared harder.

"Clearly so are you, since you just brought it up," she pointed out. Ok, she did have a point there. But in Kairi's defense, it had been _really _disgusting. "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Penelo pressed. Kairi rolled her eyes again, this time expressly for Penelo's benefit.

"No. I will not tell anyone about Hayner and Olette's skanky sexcapades," she deadpanned. "Now let's go, assuming you're telling me the truth."

"Promise." Kairi stared at her in disbelief. Was she for real?

"Ok…" she began slowly. "I _promise _that I will not tell anyone about Hayner and Olette's skanky sexcapades. Better?" Penelo nodded and broke into a happy smile. Of course she'd be on Hayner and Olette's side- Kairi couldn't have expected anything else. What happened next did surprise her, though.

Penelo pulled her into a deep hug of gratitude.

Kairi blinked in shock before tentatively hugging her back. What was this all about…?

"Thanks," Penelo sighed. She was shorter than Kairi, and chubbier, too- she felt kind of nice to hug. Kairi hadn't had a hug in more than two years. She found herself relaxing into the embrace, content to just be _held _for the briefest of moments, soothing her frayed nerves ever so slightly.

As she should have expected, it was not meant to last.

Penelo leaned upwards onto her tiptoes, bringing her mouth up to Kairi's ear. Her short, hot breaths were exciting the sensitive skin, in sharp contrast to Kairi's insides, which froze, hard and solid, from her feet to the tips of her fingers, heart stopping and blood running cold as she listened to those few short words Penelo whispered to her, her voice barely audible but sickeningly sweet:

"You'd better watch your back, Caroline McLane."

* * *

Aaaand the shit hits the fan. I can't believe I held on to that twist for 27 chapters. ALL ABOARD THE FLASHBACK EXPRESS!

I'm trying to get all my fics updated- but again, with the work schedule, the fanstuffs have kinda taken a seat on the back burner. Reviews inspire me to go faster? :)

Q OF THE DAY: Are there any moments in this fic that have made you sit up and go "What the hell?" That happens to me basically every chapter, but most prominently, I had WTF moments when Axel killed his mom, and when Riku got shot. I believe I even texted a friend and said "Uh, I'm writing this fanfic and I think one of my characters just got shot." It's all totally organic, man. TOTALLY. xD


	28. Chapter 28

Ha, sorry for the delays! I quit the pizza job and took up teaching band instruments to high schoolers. So if you're in high school and a perky brunette has taught you clarinet or sax recently, you might know me in real life! Oooooh.

On top of that, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. Give me some love!

Also, I picked up my copy of 358/2 Days yesterday, and everything Demyx says is the funniest thing I've ever read in my entire life. "Hey, have you ever wanted to do something stupid... and AWESOME?" Yes, Demyx! Let's put our hands in the air and shout together!

Ahem. Back to your regularly scheduled angst and religious tension.

* * *

_She was back in the school. Fiery bricks and wood were falling everywhere; desks were overturned; everyone was screaming and crying. Explosions were ringing out from all directions, both far away and right on top of her all at once._

"_Zeke," she shouted feebly._

_A panicked boy, much bigger than her, shoved her out of the way on his way out of the classroom. She stumbled to the ground and couldn't get back up; her lungs were already too filled with smoke._

"_Zeke," she coughed._

_No one was helping her. She was trapped, condemned to die. That was when she saw them- her family. Zeke, and her parents, too, off in the distance, just standing and watching. They were a bit fuzzy around the edges, but unmistakably there. She extended a tiny hand._

"_Zeke," she sobbed._

_Then another explosion, and everything went black._

Carrie awoke, sweaty and sick. The nightmares never stopped coming. She was shaking under the covers, so much so that the rickety bed was creaking, and her stomach hurt and her eyes were watery. But otherwise, she seemed perfectly ok, and she hadn't disturbed any of the other girls in her room, at least.

That was when she heard the commotion out in the hall.

"Young man, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?" One of their orphanage keepers, but it was always impossible to tell which one. They all sounded alike, with that odd, stilted tone that only appears in the extremely religious.

"My sister," a younger, male voice clipped. "I need to see my sister." Zeke- that was Zeke! Carrie sat up a little straighter. Could she get out of bed without waking anyone else up?

"She's sleeping. Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"She was shouting for me-"

"_Young man._" That was how they were always addressed- always 'young man' or 'young lady.' "I assure you, I've been here this entire time and I've heard nothing of the sort. Go back to your room."

"But Carrie-"

"_Go._" The scuffle that ensued almost certainly meant that the woman was grabbing Zeke by the cuff of his threadbare pajamas and dragging him back to where the boys slept. Her first instinct was to shout after him, but she kept herself quiet. And she _had _been quiet, right? The other girls were all still asleep. How had he heard her shouting?

Little did she know at the time that the strange occurrences wouldn't stop there.

* * *

"_You'd better watch your back, Caroline McLane."_

Kairi froze instantly. She wanted to respond- her first instinct was to respond- after all, after having a name for eighteen whole years; it's only natural to respond to it, right? But here, here in this place, Caroline McLane was _not _her name. She had no idea who that girl was.

"What the fuck are you talking about now?" she snapped, but it was already too late to play dumb. Her reaction had given too much away. Penelo arched an eyebrow, with a knowing smile. She looked every bit the cat cornering the mouse.

_Really, Penelo? Blackmail?_

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," the blonde said smugly.

_Yeah. Yeah I do. But you shouldn't! _Kairi screamed in her head. But what she said was:

"No I don't. Let's go."

* * *

Caroline Ruth McLane was born on Christmas Day to proud parents Zachary McLane and Miriam Schryver. Being of the Jewish persuasion, they didn't mind spending the entire holiday in a hospital. Upon her birth little Carrie was equipped with a nice Brooklyn apartment, enough family money for private schooling, and a well-mannered big brother named Zeke.

Zeke McLane was originally meant to be another Zachary McLane, but his mother refused to have a junior in the family, so they changed one vowel and left it at that. Caroline was named after her great-aunt, who died when her father was young, but she always went by Carrie, because her mother thought Caroline sounded too pretentious.

The two children proved themselves to be exceptionally bright in all areas. Zeke preferred English and history, but Carrie's favorite subject was math. Her early teachers declared her a genius. After observing her fascination with technology, her parents began enrolling her in extra-curricular computer classes, and from age six onward she was entering science competitions the way some girls enter beauty pageants. Her crowning achievement was becoming the youngest ever winner of the title "Smartest Girl In America" at age eight, for an AI program she'd actually just made for fun.

Of course, shortly after that, her entire life went to shit.

"World War 3" erupted later that year. The bombings of Brooklyn happened less than a year after that, in the winter, not too long after Carrie's ninth birthday, during the day while Zeke and Carrie were both in school. Their parents died instantly- their entire apartment block was incinerated. Both of them were only children whose own parents were dead or too incapacitated to care for children, and the government had neither the resources nor the inclination to search for any long-lost relatives who may have been willing to take the two orphaned children in.

And thus, the two siblings became all that the other had left in the entire world.

Zeke and Carrie were collected from the wreckage more than a full day later, still entwined and too afraid to move. The rescue team was anything but gentle, and they found themselves being tossed in a van with the rest of the kids who'd been trapped in the school. Carrie recognized a boy from her class, another Jewish kid named Cameron, and she tried to say hi but he couldn't hear her and she was too scared to try again, besides. Zeke never let go of her hand.

Later on they'd learn of the massive operation the city had undergone to rescue the hoards of children orphaned by the attack. At the time, they were only aware of a disgusting van and rude social workers. But eventually, the van stopped. The doors snapped open, and the ten or so kids were shuffled out. Carrie looked up at their destination.

_The Church of Saint Mary and the Immaculate Conception._

Wide-eyed, she turned to her brother. His expression was grim.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't," he muttered. So, she didn't, and her life as a practicing Jew was abruptly cut short.

The people at the church were nice, of course. They certainly hadn't been required to take in as many children as they did, and it was objectively much better than being out on the street. But to little Carrie, Saint Mary's was her absolute, perfect Hell. The church staff bought their clothes in bulk and as cheaply as possible, so she had to wear dresses, and all of the children were "home-schooled" at a level much lower than what she was used to. She was forced to attend Mass every Sunday for a religion that meant nothing to her. But the absolute worst was that the boys and the girls were separated for absolutely everything, which meant that she got to spend almost no time whatsoever with her brother.

Before long, Carrie had become the most troublesome child in the entire orphanage. She stopped doing her homework or bothering to answer questions in class. She snuck out of the dormitory at night. She punched a girl who tried to tell her that Jews killed Christ. She lied and cheated anyone she could, and she spent more time being punished for misbehaving than everyone else combined. But the shit, as they say, didn't really hit the fan until her first Saint Mary's Thanksgiving, about ten months after she'd been orphaned.

The church took care of twenty or so orphans total, at any given time- the numbers changed as new children arrived or an old one died of disease or heartache. The dining room had two tables, one for boys and one for girls. Carrie stared longingly over at the boy's table, where Zeke was sitting and staring dully at his plate. She wished more than anything to spend the holiday with her family, like she had before. One of the church women was saying grace.

"Thank you, Lord," she began. Carrie folded her hands and closed her eyes, more out of habit and to fit in than anything else. "We are thankful to be here together. It is by God's blessing that we're here today, because it was He who protected our church."

Yeah. God protected them. Which, by extension, naturally meant that He was the one who also saw fit to let her parents die.

Carrie couldn't help it. She laughed.

Heads snapped up and sharp breaths were inhaled. The only person in the entire room who didn't react with shock and horror was Zeke, who just stared at her as she giggled, raising his eyebrow as if asking a question, or rather, extending a challenge. She laughed harder.

"Is there something you'd like to share, Miss McLane?" the priest asked politely, though an implicit threat was lurking in his tone.

"Oh. Sorry," she said, still giggling, her voice shrill. "I mean, I just thought- God must've really hated Saint Michael's down the street, you know? Maybe their mass was only two hours instead of three?" She laughed even harder, taking on an almost manic quality, and tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes. The other orphans didn't even know how to react, so simply stayed quiet for fear of being punished.

"Why, you-" a volunteer woman hissed, and grabbed her by the wrist. Carrie didn't stop laughing, she _couldn't _stop laughing, and soon her harsh laughter was being overrun by hiccupping sobs, shaking uncontrollably, squeezing her eyes shut-

That was when it happened.

The woman holding her arm snapped her hand back, almost as if she'd been burned. There was a long, pregnant silence. Carrie was shaking. And then, the woman moaned and grabbed her forehead.

"Oh," she said. "Oh-"

One by one, the children's faces went slack in confusion, and one of the younger ones began to cry. The adults' eyes squeezed shut, expressions contorted in pain. But that wasn't what Carrie was noticing, of course- she was noticing her brother. He was still staring at her, wide-eyed, from across the room, and she began to notice, somewhat curiously despite the overwhelming grief, how very _piercing _his gaze was, how there seemed to be something powerful behind it, how very he starkly stood out in contrast to a room otherwise perfectly ordinary.

Then she passed out.

She didn't realize then that _that _had been the onset of her powers, or that she was in any way special. The best explanation she could come up with years later was that she was so overwhelmed by grief that her brain had taken it upon itself to release it, and of course, her abilities weren't developed enough for the people around her to experience anything but pain and confusion. She stayed catatonic for almost a week, during which a plague of a sudden unnamable illness, mainly characterized by sharp headaches and hallucinations, took down almost all the members of the church, and even some of their neighbors. The more superstitious of the congregation believed it was demons. They cast a suspicious eye on the young girl who'd spoken out at Thanksgiving dinner, but kept their mouths shut, since her brother was the one worst affected by the mysterious "sickness."

Zeke, in fact, slept in the bed next to her the entire time she was out, though she had no way of knowing. His condition was so bad that his caretakers were convinced he was going to die. But then, the day before Carrie woke up, he was suddenly and miraculously healed, and sent away back to the boy's dormitory. And then Carrie woke up, perfectly refreshed, as if nothing bad had happened, though she was still grieving.

That was only the beginning of the strange occurrences, however.

Her strange headaches never stopped overtaking her at odd times. Sometimes people would respond to things she hadn't actually said, only thought. She found that not only did her brother suddenly stick from the rest, but she could actually _feel _his presence no matter where he was in the large church and school.

And, of course, most dangerous of all, if she was angry, or hurt, or even stared at someone the wrong way for too long, she could make them hurt.

She didn't get her answers for a couple months, until January, right after her birthday. During the New Year's celebration, one of the few times she actually got to spend a chunk of time with her brother, he suddenly glanced around, and motioned for her to follow him. She did it, obediently, as little sisters do, and even managed not to squawk in surprise when he grabbed her and yanked them both into a nearby broom closet.

"Carrie," he whispered. "Are you ok? I mean, really ok."

"Yeah," she said.

"How are the headaches? Have you been sick again?"

"Nah," she said. Zeke gave her a quick hug and smiled happily, one of the few times he genuinely smiled. They didn't have much to smile about those days.

"Good. That's good." Carrie nodded. Zeke took a deep breath, and continued. "I've been doing some reading- ok, a lot of reading- and I think I figured out what's wrong with us. For sure." He paused for emphasis, the way he often did.

"Carrie… we're Others."

Her eyes widened. _Others_? She'd always thought that Others were freaks who grew extra limbs, or sprouted fur and horns and stuff. People very much unlike her.

"You really think so?" she asked. Then she paused. "Wait. _We_?"

"Positive. Carrie, you can _do _things- you talk without speaking, and give people headaches. It has to be magic. There's no other explanation." He sighed. "And there's no other explanation for what I do, either."

"What… what exactly is it that _you _do?" That was all news to her, and she looked at her brother in a new light. Being only ten years old, she didn't think to press the issue then, but his secret-keeping would prove to be a major problem in a future.

"I think- I'm not sure, I'm still experimenting a little bit, but I think I can make people _se_e things. Things that aren't really there," he rattled out. His voice was still as soft as possible, but Carrie could both hear and feel the excitement in it. "I mean, I haven't much tried doing it on purpose yet, but I got suspicious when all the guys in the beds around mine started having the same dreams as me, or dreaming about things I was thinking about. I thought it was a weird coincidence, but it went on for too long to be that- I was actually _putting _the images right in their heads. And once, once I didn't have my homework, and I was really scared, so I turned in a blank sheet of paper and hoped she wouldn't notice, and she just looked right at it, smiled, and put it in the pile. Somehow, thanks to me, she was seeing actual, completed homework and not computer paper.

"What really convinced me, though, was I was reading a book actually written by an Other, and he mentioned in passing that Others can sort of feel when there are other Others- ha- when there are other Others around. And I can feel when you're around, Carrie. But it only started around a month ago, right after you got sick. That's the other thing- the powers don't onset until right around or a little before puberty, and that's where we are. I think we're Others," he finished, somewhat lamely, as though he was afraid his little sister wouldn't approve of his theory.

"Ok," she said finally. "I'll believe you 'cause you're smart." She smiled, and her brother smiled back. "But I want to see it."

"See what?"

"See what you can do," she said excitedly. "Please?"

"Oh," he said sheepishly. "Oh, well, I'm not too good at controlling it yet, not much practice, but, uh, I can try. Close your eyes, I guess." She did so. She felt her brother's slender fingers press against one of her temples.

And immediately, she wasn't in a broom closet anymore.

She was out in a field, no civilization in sight. The place was pretty generic. Blue sky, green grass. The wind was blowing her hair to one side. Everything was beautiful and perfect, but somehow, she knew it wasn't real. She could feel Zeke in her head.

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "It's a little windy." Immediately, the wind died.

"Sorry about that," she heard her brother grin from nowhere. "So, uh. What do you see?"

"Whatever you're showing me, dummy," she laughed at him.

"Well, tell me what that is. For my sake."

"Ok." She looked around. "There's grass, and sky."

"That's it?"

"Well, uh, the sky is really blue. And it's long-ish grass, I guess." And then, suddenly, everything flipped. For a brief moment, Carrie thought she was upside-down, but then she realized it was the colors that were backwards. Her brother had shifted the illusion so that the grass was blue and the sky was green. She giggled.

"You switched the colors. Why'd you do that?"

"Just to see if I could." And then, she was back in the broom closet, face-to-face with her brother, who looked both tired and exhilarated. "So, you see now? We _have_ to be Others. There's no other explanation, and believe me, I've tried."

"I told you, I believe you," she said softly. "But what do we do now?" There in that closet, with her brother, her _only living family_, a fact she hadn't really yet absorbed even a year later, with him so close to her, the harsh reality of her situation was finally beginning to sink in. Ten years old, no family but a twelve-year-old brother, stuck living in an overcrowded Catholic church, and now on top of that she had freak superpowers.

"I think- I'm not sure yet, but I think that with these, I can get us out of here." Zeke tapped his forehead on the word 'these,' indicating his own powers. "Let's just say for now that I'm working on it, ok? We'll get out, I promise." Carrie was skeptical, but she nodded.

"Ok." She laughed a little. "I like talking to you like this."

"I like talking to you too, sis."

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Uh, actually, yeah." Carrie could tell that her brother was blushing, and shifting his weight awkwardly from foot to foot. "Don't tell anyone else, but I think I'm kinda gay."

Zeke did keep his promise, though it took more than two years for him to work all the kinks out of his master plan. A week before, he told Carrie to expect a surprise. And then, while she was laying on her bed and reading a book, it happened. One of the women came in with Zeke and told her that her brother was finally of age, and had agreed to be her legal guardian. He apparently had even convinced her that he had a job lined up. And he _did _have a job, though she wouldn't find out about it until much later.

Her brother's illusion was so convincing that the church even gave them a sending-off party. Carrie kept fearing that something would go horribly wrong, but nothing did- Zeke had worked out even the slightest, tiny detail. And suddenly there she was, holding the tiny suitcase that contained all of her life's belongings, watching Zeke sign her release papers as her new, fancy, imaginary 18-year-old guardian.

A weight was lifting off her chest. She felt like she could fly.

"We've enjoyed having you here," the bookkeeper lied. Everyone knew that the McLanes were the most problematic children in the orphanage- the sending-off party had been a huge celebration for everyone involved. "Remember to keep Jesus Christ in your heart, always."

"Actually," Carrie sniffed, "We're Jewish." And without another look back, brother and sister linked hands, grinned at each other, and strutted out of Saint Mary's, never to return.

Zeke had found them a nice apartment within a few blocks of a middle and high school that he informed Carrie they were already both enrolled in for the next semester. He didn't tell her how he'd gotten the money to rent an apartment, or that the school was an expensive private affair not unlike the one they'd attended before their parents died. She was so happy to be with her brother again and out of the horrid orphanage that she never even thought to ask. Her brother was taking care of her, and that was all that mattered.

Soon Carrie was back to her ordinary, brilliant, school-loving self, with ordinary girlie friends and ordinary concerns like dances and boys. Zeke was at the top of his own class, too, and confided in her that he'd convinced the school administrators that they were being cared for by a single father, who he disguised himself as for parent-teacher night every few months. Whole years went by like that, just living normal teenage lives.

But of course it was too good to last.

One day, Zeke didn't come home. He didn't come home the next day, either, or the one after that. The month ended, and the landlord came for rent. Carrie didn't have any. At that point, the landlord checked over their records, and found out that Zeke was only 17 years old. He pitched a fit and wanted to take the case to court, but of course, _he'd _been the one renting to someone underage for more than three years, and the form plainly showed Zeke's birthday, so he didn't have much ground for a lawsuit. The forged version existed only inside of Zeke's own mind. Wherever he was.

Carrie McLane was out on the street, age 15, with no friends to speak of and no remaining family. She could have gone back to St. Mary's, but she hated that place so much that she really did prefer to just sleep outside with the other homeless urchins.

She never stopped looking for her brother, of course. Purple hair wasn't exactly common, so it was easy to tell if people had seen him. Then one day, reading a stray newspaper, pieces began to fit together. According to a front page, headline story, a gang of prominent bank robbers had been arrested. They'd been questioned by police and declared responsible for a whole string of thefts from a slew of Manhattan banks over the past several years. But that wasn't what caught her attention.

Every single one of the criminals had forgone true responsibility for their crimes. There was a mastermind behind the entire operation, they'd said, each one with the same story. A master illusionist, an Other who could force anyone to see anything he wanted.

Zeke McLane.

That was how he'd been paying for their ritzy apartment. He'd been robbing banks. And now, he was the most wanted criminal in the United States. But something wasn't right. Where was he _now? _Had he been killed? Had he run? And if he'd had to run, why would he leave without telling her what was going on? Why _hadn't _he told her what was going on?

And why hadn't she ever _asked_?

Well, in any case, she knew of a gang of people who knew the answer. 16 years old was the first time Carrie ever used her powers for something illegal. With an old, stolen pistol and a bag full of homemade explosives in tow, she showed up right outside Manhattan's most high-security holding center, right in the middle of the afternoon. She was exceptional, after all. She didn't have to play by the rules.

The police and the media never did figure out how the entire security staff of that particular holding center lost consciousness at almost the exact same time. Regardless, Carrie made it to her goal- a big, surly fellow who matched exactly the picture she'd seen in the paper. A bit of psychological pressure got her all the information she needed.

Zeke wasn't dead, and he hadn't run away.

His cronies had _sold _him.

For top dollar, apparently, though the source of his value was unclear. The Shinra Corporation had somehow found out about their activities and approached the group for a deal, which they'd immediately accepted. After that they'd stayed quiet for a while, but being the greedy criminals that they were, they'd eventually tried a robbery on their own and been almost immediately caught. Without Zeke's powers, they were completely useless. And because of their greed, her brother, her only family, was now being held prisoner for God only knew what purpose.

Carrie left the holding center and refocused her attentions on Shinra itself. She'd never paid them much thought besides seeing the building in the New York skyline. Breaking into the headquarters of a multi-national corporation was very different from breaking into a simple holding center. She wouldn't be able to just waltz in and bust her brother out- she didn't even know where to start looking for him, or whether he was even still in New York at all. So, she did what any ambitious teen would do.

She gathered up her computer credentials and applied for a job.

* * *

Kairi stormed through the hallways, Penelo close behind. She didn't have the time or energy to deal with this charming new development, not now. Eventually, she could corner Penelo and ask _how the hell did you find out _and beat her back into submission, but she had to deal with the big bosses first. One problem at a time.

Set 'em up, knock 'em down.

She was so irritated, so distracted, so _furious, _that she didn't even pay attention to what was coming out of the lab. Penelo was always in there, after all, not to mention Naminé, so it's not like she wasn't used to feeling the magical energy. She didn't even consider the option that a third party was waiting for them, perking up suspiciously as he felt two Others storming towards him down the corridor.

They were right outside. Kairi had to talk to Ansem- had to tell him how the project was going- had to tell him that she and Naminé were making good progress on-

"Kairi!" Penelo hissed suddenly. "Wait-"

She threw open the door.

Something wasn't right.

Startled blue eyes met startled blue eyes.

_Vampire._

Caroline Ruth McLane was, at heart, a woman of action, not a thinker. She didn't stop and think. She didn't think at all. Her only thought, just one, was self-defense, consumed by instinct as her powers leaped into action.

One mighty thought, and all bodies but two hit the ground.

* * *

Last week was my beta's birthday, and I sent her an "ERASED MIKS" (I realized too late that the sticky letters I chose to do the cover had no X.) The songs have very little to do with the actual fic, I just like to listen to ridiculous dance beats while I write. I am, in fact, listening to the ERASED MIKS right now! WOW. Anyway, in case any of y'all wanted to know what was on it:

Heldenzeit - Wir Sind Helden  
Poker Face - Lady GaGa  
Disturbia - Rihanna  
Appelknyckerjazz - MOVITS!  
She-Wolf - Shakira  
Shake It - Metro Station  
Mejor Que Tu No Hay Nada - Sanalejo  
Alle Gegen Alle - Ohrbooten  
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings  
Dulce Locura - La Oreja De Van Gogh  
Bad - MJ  
I Kissed A Boy - Cobra Starship  
Hush Hush - The Pussycat Dolls  
Human - The Killers  
Butterfly - smileDOTdk

Tune in for the next exciting installment, wherein all of our lovable mutant freakshows ask the all-important question, "Are we human... or are we DANCING?" and then proceed to break it down like the kids from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

For some reason, chapter 27 was the magic number or something, and I've gotten approximately one million new subscribers, and am now well over the magic ONE-OH-OH mark. Over a hundred people are subscribed to this beast! Wow! Thanks, guys! In that spirit:

Q OF THE DAY: What drew you into this fic? What made you want to keep reading it? Was it the vampires, or the Angel!Sora, or alcoholic Kairi, or the gay smut, or Roxas as a braindead freako?

You all should review because TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. MY 21ST BIRTHDAY, IN FACT. Is all I'm sayin'. :) Peace out!


	29. Chapter 29

Gah! Sorry for the long disappearance. Took a birthday vacation, then my marvelous beta came to visit, then I got sucked into playing FF7 for the first time. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes! BUT HEY LOOK A CHAPTER WITH PLOT AND STUFF.

This chapter is for KattJealous. Why? Because I can.

* * *

Kairi collapsed onto a terminal not long after everyone else did. Penelo was the only one still standing, staring in horror at the three unconscious bodies sprawled out in front of her. Ansem Wise, who she barely recognized, was sporting an impressive nosebleed. The guard who'd accompanied him to the basement was wearing a mask, so it was impossible to tell what the damage was. And as for Seth Corvus-

"He's a vampire?" she whispered. "Do- do they know about us?" Was it all a trap? Did everyone else know about Seth? What was going to happen to her when they woke up? She found herself desperately wanting to ask Kairi- Carrie- whatever her name was. She was used to playing the higher-ups, and she'd know what to do. Unfortunately, Penelo had already more than burned that bridge. Asking Kairi for help was out of the question.

Kairi herself didn't even see fit to answer the question she _had _asked, or maybe she just couldn't. She barely seemed able to move her limbs, and she clawed clumsily towards the main terminal, dragging herself along on various equipment when her feet failed her. And then, as if to make sure they had a full-on party, Naminé showed up as well.

"Kairi?" she asked quietly. "Are you all right?"

"Na-" Kairi mumbled, slightly cross-eyed. "Nani- no-name- nami-"

"Kairi?" Naminé asked again, concerned. Well, it was to be expected- Kairi would have had to just about empty her skull to knock out three grown men at once, not to mention an Other. Penelo watched without helping as Kairi dragged herself over to her chair and attempted to sit down, only to send said chair rolling haphazardly across the lab while she collapsed on the floor. A look of concern flashed across Naminé's face, well, as much as it could, since she was a computer program. Penelo was probably imagining things.

"Penelo," Naminé finally asked, making it very clear that she herself was a last resort for information. "What happened?"

"Big boss is a vampire. Kairi panicked and knocked everyone out," she summarized bluntly.

"Nami- Naminé," Kairi sputtered from the floor. "Need- di- dis- diver- diversion," she pronounced out slowly. "It's time." She was slowly beginning to regain some of her basic motor functions, and she reached out to retrieve her chair.

"Time for what?" Penelo asked suspiciously, but Naminé spoke over her.

"Are you sure? Now?"

"Got no choice," Kairi slurred. Naminé nodded, as if that made perfect sense in her world. Penelo frowned.

"Time for what? What are you trying to do?" Kairi managed to haul herself up into her chair, and she began to type rapidly, in sharp contrast to her sluggish movements from before. "Kairi, what's going on?" Kairi didn't answer, apparently unable to do two things at once. She just kept typing.

"Kairi," Penelo repeated. "Kairi, what's happening?" Kairi closed her eyes, put her hands down, and took a deep breath.

"Oh, you have a brain. Use it," her boss snapped, finally coming back into semi-coherency. "You're clever enough to find out my Super Secret Identity and try to play politics with me, right? Any idiot could see what I'm doing."

"Any idiot, huh?" Penelo said, just to stall. Kairi didn't seem to get the memo about the stalling, however, and continued to frantically punch directions into the computer.

"Goes much faster when I can use my brain," she muttered. "So tired-"

"And what if I stop you?" Penelo said, more urgently, hoping that Kairi wouldn't call her bluff. "They'll wake up eventually, you know. Even you can't knock someone out forever."

"Sure I can," Kairi shrugged. "Just don't feel like having murders on my conscience. Aaaand- there we go!" She hit the last button triumphantly. Suddenly, the lab was lighting up. Even the blue tubes in the floor got brighter. Penelo knew what that meant- Kairi was pushing all of the equipment up to full power. But _why_?

"I'm going to stop you," Penelo repeated desperately.

"Can't stop someone who's already dead," Kairi said cheerfully. "Almost ready, Naminé?"

"Everything is being prepared. They should not notice the error for at least long enough for you to escape." Penelo had just barely begun to form the words _What error? _when suddenly, the entire lab lurched into high gear.

Most importantly, the POEM turned on.

"Wha-? Kairi, you're not thinking of putting _Seth Corvus _in there, are you!?" Penelo shrieked. Kairi just laughed at her.

"Wow. You really are thick, you know that?" she scoffed. "And, while that would be justice not unpoetic-" she paused to giggle at her own pun- "E can stand for other things, too. Like, say, _exit_."

"Exit-?" Penelo stopped. And then her eyes widened in horror.

"Hey."

Leon didn't even notice the voice, so wrapped up was he in his work. He was angrily punching numbers into his computer, not even noticing what he was doing, really- he'd been in the self-employed private detective gig for so long that most of the ordinary day-to-day business just sort of happened automatically. A typo popped up and he snarled at it angrily.

"Hey. I'm talkin' to you, _Leon._" The rude emphasis on his name was finally enough to catch Leon's attention, but he was feeling too dignified to jerk around or show that he'd been surprised. If his charge weren't being such a whiny brat, well then, maybe he could have been bothered, but as it was, he kept his chin held high, and rotated his broken office chair slowly, like a true professional.

Cloud had managed to pants himself, barely. Leon's sweatpants were just slightly too big for him, and hung low enough to show more hip bone and happy trail than could generally be considered decent. On top of that, he hadn't been able to tighten the drawstring, so with each awkward, tottering step forward, the pants shifted in a way that made Leon's sex-starved brain go places very inappropriate in regards to a bleeding disaster victim.

"Ok, then. Hi, Cloud," said Leon, voice only slightly higher than normal, and he went back to his work, keeping his eyes away from the oh-so-tempting yet oh-so-wrong sexy starving vampire boy love-of-his-life.

"Don't 'Hi, Cloud' me," Cloud spat. "Who says you can talk to me like that?"

"You can barely stand. I'll talk to you however I want," Leon said dismissively, waving a hand, still not looking. Cloud hissed at him in irritation. Not a simple tsk, no, but a fierce and decidedly inhuman hiss, straight through the teeth. That got Leon's attention.

"Cloud?" he asked warily, this time shifting to face his friend, all while keeping his eyes carefully trained on Cloud's face. He looked a good deal, well, gaunter than usual, to be sure, but he was decidedly less grimy than before, so the bath must have helped. A little bit of color was returning to his cheeks- odd to see on a vampire, but Cloud and Sora had just a hint of a bit of an olive complexion, anyway, not pale pale pale. As opposed to Leon, who had never been exposed to a single drop of sunlight in his entire lifetime, and was quite confident that he was so pale as to be see-through, even though he had no way of seeing for himself.

"Are you listenin' to me?" Cloud yelled, and he punched the wall for emphasis. His strength hadn't nearly come back, but the creaky old church could respond noisily to even a fond love tap. The rafters above creaked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm listening," he said quickly, even though he really hadn't been. Cloud was agitated, that much was certain. He was slurring his words together, sounding like the Jersey boy he was as a kid.

"He's _my _brother!"

"That doesn't make this a good idea!" Penelo shouted. "Kairi, it's never been _done _before! Who's to say he won't die outright, or come out with no limbs, or-"

"You think I haven't thought about it!?" Kairi hissed. Her hands were shaking even as she punched in the codes. "You think I haven't thought about that _every goddamn day _for _two years_? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Kairi, please- just stop and _think _for a minute-"

"I have thought. I've thought plenty," she muttered. "And you know what? As soon as those three wake up-" she gestured loosely towards the unconscious heap on the floor- "I'm dead. Or they'll stick me in here, which is worse than being dead. So you know what? I've got nothing to lose."

"Yeah, but what about Zex- what about Zeke?" Penelo begged. She hadn't seen Kairi like this. Kairi was a little crazed, sure, but she'd never put anyone in danger. Well, except for the part where she'd attacked Penelo in the lab. But she hadn't been trying to _kill _her- right?

"He's _my _brother," Kairi repeated, more firmly. "And I know for a fact he'd rather be dead than living the way he is now. Even if he stays brain dead forever, it doesn't matter. My brother is not a _lab experiment_." She said those last words quietly, to herself, almost as if she hadn't meant for Penelo to hear them. Penelo herself stayed silent. What could she say? She had a brother, one she missed terribly, and what would _she _do if she were in Kairi's position?

"…Fine. I won't try to stop you," she finally said, defeated.

"Thanks," Kairi whispered. She swiveled around to face Penelo. "Listen. Can you do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure?" said Penelo, taken aback.

"Take care of Naminé. She'll talk to you. I think she likes you, though God only knows why she would."

"Uh, thanks?"

"Don't let Shinra do anything to her. I mean, you may have figured this out by now, but- she's a little bit more than just a computer program." Penelo had always suspected as much. She could feel the magic coming from the computer, and not just from the subjects. It felt good to have her suspicions confirmed. But now, now may be the last chance she'd have to find out _what _the girl was.

"More than a computer program?" she asked innocently. But Kairi didn't answer- she was typing again already. Suddenly, she paused.

"But you," she murmured. "You're a problem. They'll know you're an Other. Unless Seth Corvus is trying to hide the fact that he's a vampire as well, or do they all already know? We'll never get a chance to ask… what do you think, Naminé?"

"I have no way of knowing," the computer said.

"Hmm. He'll probably try to find another way to expose you. And besides, it's suspicious that I didn't knock you out- they might think we're in cahoots." Kairi thought quietly to herself for a long moment, surprisingly calm considering what she was in the process of doing. In anyone else, Penelo would admire that sort of focus, but Kairi just came off as sort of creepy.

"They'll take everyone to get checked out once they wake up," Kairi muttered. "Three knock-outs with no wounds. So we can't knock you out, since they'll notice it was different. That I didn't knock you out the same way as the others. That would be suspicious."

"I don't think I'd let you knock me out, anyway," Penelo snapped.

"That's good. Good attitude to have. We need to make it look like you put up a fight- a _real _fight. So, come on. Attack me," Kairi ordered. As much as Penelo loved the offer to take a swing at her boss, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"No fucking way. You can barely stand- how could I attack you?"

"You would if you were loyal to Shinra," Kairi explained. "Now, come on. There's no time to be noble. We have to make it convincing." All in the background, machines were clicking and whirring. Penelo could almost hear them chanting _fight, fight, fight-_

"No. We'll find another way," she said firmly.

"There _is _no other way! Dammit, Penelo!" Kairi seethed. "Fine. You know what? I'll just attack you. And since you're being a pain in the ass, I'm gonna make it _hurt_."

"Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself!"

"Sora is _my _brother, you hear me? _Mine. _Not yours," Cloud howled, in full-on raving crazy mode, waving his arms around as best he could. "He didn't give up on me. He wouldn't. You're lying. And _sorry _that I got turned into a goddamn _vampire _at a time that was _inconvenient _for everyone! Maybe I'll schedule it next time? Next time I go on a date I'll say oh hey, Mr. Sexy Man, are you a vampire? 'Cause if you're gonna bite me while we're foolin' around I have to _call my friend first-_"

"Date?" Leon asked quietly. _Friend_?

"-maybe I'll make a hotel reservation, even! Make arrangements to be moved to the fuckin' _Plaza _while I'm unconscious and dying for God knows how long-"

"Cloud, you're not making sense-"

"-and hey, maybe Mr. Sexy Vampire will visit me next time instead of disappearing and leaving me in a skank ass apartment with week-old blood chili-"

"What date? Who's Mr. Sexy?"

"-maybe we could eat the cat together-"

"Uh?"

"-fuckin' cops-"

"Cloud-"

"-and _now _I get stuck with a fuckin' _guilt trip _because my fuckin' _little brother _is fuckin' _missing_!" Cloud finished up with a loud sob. Leon hadn't even noticed he'd been crying. He'd almost gotten used to silently miserable Cloud, but this violently hysterical Cloud, well, that was something new. He was beginning to feel more than a little guilty for telling his friend off before.

"Cloud," he said quietly, in an attempt to calm him somewhat. "Sora'll come back. I'm sure of it. He always does."

"I want him to be here now," Cloud whimpered. He was trembling. Well, at least now Leon knew what had happened to him- from what he could tell from the coherent bits of the rant, some vampire had seduced him and bitten him. He remembered his dream, the wet dream he himself had had that ended with biting his best friend, and he felt a sharp pang.

"Cloud… please, try to calm down," he urged, in as gentle a voice as he could manage. He stood up and went over to his friend. "It's the hormones. They're what's making you feel this way."

"Hormones?" Cloud asked dully.

"Yeah. The worst part is over, I think, but- your body's still trying to fight off the- the infection." Leon struggled to get out the last word. His entire existence was an illness, a disease. A mistake.

"Fighting?" Leon waited, scared to breathe, for Cloud's reaction. But when it came, it was not at all what he'd been expecting.

Cloud started to laugh.

"Uh… Cloud? Are you ok?" he asked cautiously. Cloud only laughed harder, a deranged sort of giggle.

"Good," he said, a glint of crazed mirth in his eyes.

"Wait- good? Cloud, your body's going to lo-"

"I said _good,_" he snapped, cutting Leon off before he could get out the offending word. "_Good. _I _want _to fight it. _I don't want to be this way._"

"Cloud-"

"I don't. I don't, I don't," he screeched, angrier with every iteration, like a large and dangerous toddler throwing a tantrum. "I don't I don't I don't! I hope it kills me," he whispered.

"Cloud, don't say that!" Leon growled. "Are you even listening to yourself-?"

"I DON'T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS!" he screamed, tears rolling down his face. "I DON'T! I DON'T! I DON'T!" His limbs were shaking- he repeated the simple phrase like a mantra- he whipped around and attacked the wall again, but this time, a few chunks of wood came back with him. The destruction seemed to spur on something primal inside of him, and he dove onto one of the leftover church pews, flaying it to pieces with everything he had. Leon was too afraid to go near him. The angrier he got, the further the transformation went, human fingernails lengthening into vicious claws, teeth changing, mouth and throat shifting shape until the words were gone, replaced by nothing but anguished screeches. At the rate he was going, there wouldn't be any church _or _Cloud for Sora to come back to.

Leon had to stop him.

"Cloud!" he shouted, grabbing onto the raging vampire's shoulder. "Cloud, stop it-"

Penelo watched what happened, almost in slow motion. Kairi was reaching underneath the main terminal, first, opening a tiny compartment and pulling out a bottle. One of her many stashes of empties, of course, she realized in a sort of detached way. She watched as Kairi smashed the bottle on the printer, watched as the tiny shards of broken glass scattered everywhere, watched as Kairi turned on her.

Cloud did stop mauling the church pew, but it wasn't enough to get him to stop mauling entirely. Leon caught a fierce blue-eyed glare- a flash of light bouncing off a raised claw- a sharp hiss of delight- before all sight in both of his eyes went black. Only to be replaced by a excruciating and mind-blanking pain.

The dirty broken glass punctured Penelo's skin easily, driving deep into her stomach. She watched as it happened, feeling nothing. _You're in shock, _her brain told her helpfully. She giggled a little, and blood came out of her mouth. Before she could hit the ground, Kairi backhanded her across the face, sending her flying into one of the computer mainframes. She crumpled, and Kairi kicked her in the ribs, once, then again. Penelo heard more than felt something crack.

"There," Kairi said coldly. "You won't die. Now, once they all wake up and rush to get you some sort of medical help, tell them you tried to stop me and I beat the shit out of you. Not entirely a lie, right?"

Leon screeched and screamed, grabbing at his face. Something warm and sticky came off onto his fingers. His _face- _he couldn't _see-_

"I hate you a lot," Penelo ground out. "You know that, right?"

"Whatever," Kairi shrugged. "Don't forget your promise. Naminé, are we ready?"

"Everything is in place. Shall I begin the extraction?" Bleeding and panicked on the floor, blood rushing in her ears as all of her senses began to fade, Penelo barely heard the other girl whisper:

"Yes, please."

* * *

Zexion sat quietly in the common room, not speaking to anyone. He'd lost all interest in speaking to the other students. He had no faith in them, since they all forgot something that happened right in front of their eyes. _He _remembered with perfect clarity, so why shouldn't they remember, too? Logic would dictate that he was the one who was wrong, but somehow, he knew that wasn't right. His memory was what was real, even if it no longer existed anywhere outside of his own mind.

Besides his peer troubles, Zexion had been battling a rather persistent headache, ever since that strange girl had spoken to him in the cafeteria. The consistent, dull pain reminded him somewhat of a saying he couldn't remember- something like, when you cough, it means someone is thinking about you? No, not a cough-

He was startled out of his thoughts by the sudden arrival of someone he hadn't seen in quite some time, not since the last fitness exercise, which had been at least the day before. Professor Éniman stood in the doorway, looking the same as she always did, as far as he knew. He just didn't know why she was there.

"Class, it's time," she said simply, and the other students obediently stood and began filing out into the hallway. Zexion stayed behind, mildly confused.

"Time for what?" he asked no one, but Marluxia was kind enough to answer.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" he asked. _No, or I wouldn't have asked you, _thought Zexion. Fortunately, Marluxia continued without waiting for a reply.

"Today we have combat practice."

* * *

DUN DUN DUN. DUN DUN. DUN.

I actually, er, uploaded to the internets a couple of my Erased sketch-doodles. I've got Roxas, Demyx, and Sora at becoafamuDOTdeviantartDOTcom. Yay fanart of my own fanfics!?

Q OF THE DAY: What's the most embarrassing real-life Kingdom Hearts-related thing you've had happen to you? I spent more than an hour taking pictures of people in KH cosplay at CTcon this year, since my two friends I went with were in KH cosplay and I wasn't, so I got three cameras for the KH photo-shoot. I got a free poster for pre-ordering 358/2 Days and made all my drunk friends sign it at my 21st birthday party, and it now hangs proudly on my apartment wall. A friend once listed Kingdom Hearts as my greatest weakness on one of them online survey Facebook friend things. At my job, there's a little kid who comes in for a lesson every week wearing a Kingdom Hearts t-shirt because he totes has a crush on me and figured out I liked Kingdom Hearts and now he wears the shirt every week. I COULD GO ON. So c'mon, spill :)


	30. Chapter 30

OHMYGOD LOYAL FANS, I AM SO SORRY! I have three jobs and I've been stupid busy. I hope the Americans among you had lovely Halloweens and Thanksgivings. Anyway, a lot of junk happens in this chapter, and it took me a really long time to write it with loads of crazy editing, so I hope you like!

* * *

Penelo lay on the floor, oozing blood. Her vision was getting blurry. She could see, through the blue haze and the white mist poking into her eyes and the unconscious bodies, where Kairi was still tapping away at the terminal. Lights were flickering on, one by one, all over the lab. The POEM began to hum as it started the warm-up process.

"Kairi," she choked. Either Kairi couldn't hear her at all, or chose to ignore her. Penelo wasn't sure which option was worse. One of the men, possibly Seth Corvus, groaned and began to stir. _That_ Kairi heard, or so Penelo deduced by the increased typing speed.

"Kairi, don't ignore me." Kairi ignored her.

"Kairi," she tried again, even as her strength bled out of her. "What is Naminé going to do?"

* * *

Axel held Roxas's arm as they were ushered into the combat practice room, just to make sure he wouldn't wander away again. Something inside was telling him that Roxas wouldn't like combat practice, even though he'd never been to one. Call it a hunch.

"Class, line up, please," Professor Éniman said briskly. The eight students obediently formed a line. Axel kept Roxas next to him. Luxord was on his other side, blocking him from his other friends. Zexion seemed completely uninterested, and Demyx was in a trance.

"I like combat practice," said Marluxia, apparently to Larxene. Larxene huffed and ignored him. Axel thought that was mean of her. Maybe it was because she was a _girl. _She was different from everyone else.

"Remember, we are looking to see how you use your special abilities, and to develop your skills," the professor continued, oblivious to the students' conversation. "Be sure to demonstrate your strengths." The students nodded, and a flurry of muttered affirmations passed through them. Axel turned to Roxas, who had stayed silent.

"Hey," he said, in an attempt to be reassuring. "It's pretty fun." Roxas's eyes narrowed, and he shook his head ever so slightly, as if someone or something was trying to stop him from doing it. Finally, he gave up and closed his eyes.

"I'm not supposed to be here," he said flatly. "They're poisoning me." Axel blinked.

"What?"

"He's right, you know," Luxord said seriously. "The mind can be poisoned, too."

"Oh, _shut up, _Luxord," said Larxene and Marluxia simultaneously.

"It's all about how you play it," Luxord shrugged. "You're at a dead end, so what's your next move?" Roxas opened his mouth as if to speak, before closing it again, and keeping it that way. Axel glared at Luxord.

"You're upsetting Roxas," he said.

"Roxas can't hear you now," Luxord laughed. "Can you even hear yourself?"

"Of course I can-" he started, but Professor Éniman cut him off.

"Class, please. Let's get started." Her manner wasn't quite right. Professor Éniman never rushed. Axel frowned. Why would she be in a hurry? Maybe she was hungry, and wanted to finish early for dinner. That was all he knew. Bed, then showers, then breakfast, then class, then dinner, then showers, then bed. The cycle was endless. He couldn't imagine it any other way.

Professor Éniman called his name.

"Our first match will be Axel and Demyx."

* * *

Months earlier, Alexei Gorodetsky stood in front of an altar in Minsk, Belarus. The last snow had just begun to melt, and the air was cold, but dry enough for an adequate wildfire. He always started his fires in churches. He liked it that way; it seemed appropriate, considering that the war that had left the world like this, the one that by all accounts and speculation had been the source of whatever was causing his freak status, was sparked by religious extremists in the first place. Full circle, and all that.

Besides, he couldn't feel any guilt. He was already going to hell anyway. He'd _enjoy _being cast into a fiery pit. That was his life.

Just as he was preparing the first hints of city-leveling fire, the door banged open. Alexei didn't bother to turn around. Whoever it was, they'd announce themselves eventually anyway. And he had every right to be standing in this church right now, besides. The odds that the visitor was looking for him were basically nil.

"Hello, Alexei." Well, never mind then. Pristine boots clicked harshly across the stone floor. The English was clipped and well-enunciated, with the tiniest hint of an accent. The man was powerful, in more ways than one- his unmistakable presence seeped into even the farthest corners of the drafty room.

"Hello, Démé." Now, he turned to face his visitor. He'd met Démé Desmarais, just once, when their paths had crossed in Paris. The man was exactly the same, oozing money and influence, looking entirely out of place in the dilapidated church in perfectly pressed pants, a crisp white shirt with a starched collar, a vest on which the embroidery had most certainly been done by hand, and of course those sharp and rather acoustic boots. Alexei glanced down at his own feet, where he could see his toes poking out of his shoes. Even Démé's ridiculous hairstyle, which seemed to consist of nothing beyond trying to make as much of his hair stand straight up as he could, was pristine, without a single hair out of place.

"I'm going to have to ask you to come with me," Démé said, reveling in the cliché, with an air of authority that had most certainly not been earned.

"Why?" Alexei asked flatly. Not an unreasonable question. He might have tried harder to come up with a witty comeback, but English was not one of his stronger skills. Instead, he tried to intimidate Démé more directly. He was, of course, tall and scary and tattooed and Russian. But unfortunately, Démé was immune to intimidation by way of sheer delusional self-importance.

"It's complicated. Basically, you are a hazard to the greater good." Another cliché.

"And what does that make _you_?"

"The mighty hero who's going to stop you, of course," Démé said haughtily. Alexei could see just where the delusions of grandeur were dancing in his head. He was well-known for being a few cards short of a full deck. But there was more to it than that.

"Someone is paying you."

"Well, the money doesn't hurt, either," Démé giggled. His laugh was high and sharp. Alexei tried to block it out, and took a deep breath.

"We are the same. You and me." He winced as he said it. He didn't want to believe that he was anything like the poncy French rich-boy toolbag standing in front of him. But he also didn't feel like getting in a fight. This was supposed to be an easy trip. Just set a city on fire, then go home. Back to Moscow.

"_I_ don't kill people." Démé took a confident step forward, pushing into Alexei's personal space. Everything about him was infuriating.

"Please," Alexei scoffed. Démé Desmarais was himself an infamous wanted terrorist, and had caused major droughts on every continent. "As if no one dies from dehydration."

That seemed to do it. Démé's face darkened immediately, and his lips curled into a snarl.

"You-!"

The conversation had gone on long enough.

Alexei set the church on fire.

Démé responded by immediately unleashing a torrent of water. The two elements collided, releasing a heavy coat of steam. As much as Alexei would've liked to bash the poncy-boy's face in, he realized that there was a strong possibility that his opponent brought back-up, and his best bet was to use the steam to get the hell out. Turning, he set off at a bolt towards one of the windows. He was more than used to operating in areas with heavy smoke, so the lack of visibility was a non-issue.

Unfortunately, it was also a non-issue to Démé Desmarais, who caught him by the arm and kicked him in the shin.

Hard.

With his steel-toed boots.

"_Ow_," Alexei snapped. That _hurt. _He reeled around and punched Démé in the face. Démé released his arm, but this time, Alexei didn't run away. He swung with his other fist, catching his assailant square in the jaw and sending him spinning. By that point, most of the steam had settled, and his golden window of opportunity had long since passed. Most of the wood was now too wet to combust. It was fight or flight, with only his fists to help him.

Luckily, Démé had not spent his entire childhood scrapping for his dignity. He was a hot mess in a close-quarters brawl. So Alexei went on an all-out offensive, throwing himself towards his off-balance would-be captor, fists a-flyin', bursts of fire shooting out in all directions. Démé was all but helpless in the face of the assault, crumpling to the ground, just as Alexei had expected he would.

All around them, the church was falling to pieces. A charred support beam dropped from the ceiling. Pews and decorations were all akimbo. Filthy pools of water covered the wrecked floor. Passers-by had to be hearing the commotion, but no one tried to see what was happening. These days, it was safer to just pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary, just keep your head down and keep moving, even as the walls came crashing down around you.

Alexei hoisted Démé by the hand-sewn shirt collar and threw him into one of the pews, mostly just to get a better angle for the beating. Punk needed to be taught a lesson. _Nobody _tried to capture Alexei Gorodetsky. _As if _he was going to let anyone tie him up like a dog. Leastof all the richest and most pampered boy in the world. Each hit had more and more anger behind it, fury that _this _loser had everything he didn't- money and power and comfort and privilege-

He was pulling his fist back for another blow when someone grabbed him from behind, yanking him backwards. Snarling in indignation, he whirled around to throw off the newcomer, only to find that no one was there at all. That gave Démé enough time to scramble on his hands and knees to relative safety. He was looking battered, but his eyes were hard with determination.

"What, you don't want to fight me?" he taunted.

"Work smarter, not harder," Démé shot back. Alexei didn't quite understand the English saying. And while he was still trying to process it, hands shot out from all directions, grabbing onto his limbs and locking him in place.

"What?" Alexei shook a leg free, and stared down to see what was holding him back.

Lifeless eyes stared right back at him.

The creature was vaguely reminiscent of a human. It had humanish features, a head, two arms, and two legs. But it was transparent. Alexei could see straight through to the charred floor. And when he kicked and thrashed enough to get it to let go, it splashed back down into its natural state.

They were people. People made entirely out of water.

"I hoped to get a 'you and what army' out of you, but apparently, you lack a flair for the dramatic." Démé took a deep, shuddering breath, and closed his eyes for a moment, almost as if he were straightening something up in his head. Then he righted himself, dusted off his vest, and straightened his cuffs. Alexei was helpless to do anything but watch him primp as more and more water clones latched onto his arms, legs, and torso. Whenever he shook one off, two more would take its place. He was effectively trapped.

"It's a neat little trick, is it not? It came to me when I was ten years old," he laughed.

"You disgust me," Alexei spat back at him.

"Whatever. I win." And with that, one more water clone rose up from the soaked floorboards. For one small moment it looked directly into Alexei's eyes. Then it punched its arms directly into Alexei's nose and mouth.

Not even Others can withstand drowning.

* * *

Axel and Demyx faced each other on the stark combat room floor. Zexion watched from the sidelines, with only mild interest. He didn't like combat practice.

"Ok," said Professor Éniman. She clapped her hands. "Fight."

Axel braced himself for an attack, but Demyx wasn't moving. He feet were perfectly still, as were his glazed eyes, while the rest of him swayed slightly from side to side to a beat no one else could hear.

"Are you all right?" Axel asked worriedly.

Demyx's head snapped up.

His eyes focused, and he jerked his head from side to side, as if he'd just been startled awake. Zexion met his gaze only briefly, and there was no recognition in his face. Nothing in the entire room seemed to catch Demyx's attention- that is, until he found Axel.

"You." His eyes narrowed in confusion. Then they widened back up, like a spark had been lit inside of him. "_You!_"

"Are you all right?" Axel asked again.

"You! You- you- you!" Demyx pointed and talked, growing more and more frazzled, like a child who desperately needed to communicate something and didn't quite know how. He even stomped a foot angrily. His bottom lip curled into a frustrated pout.

"Me?"

"You- did- this- to- me!" he ground out, like every word was a struggle. With every syllable, he moved forward, scooting along with tiny steps. Something, something that neither Zexion nor anyone else could see, was holding him back. But what was abundantly clear was that Demyx was fighting it with everything he had, even if it only existed inside his own mind.

"What did I do?" Axel asked, confused.

"_You_!" Demyx was shouting now. He didn't look or sound like himself. The Demyx that Zexion knew was completely gone, replaced by a screaming terror whose face was lit up with something that Zexion was only just beginning to remember how to recognize.

_Rage._

"You did this to me!" he screamed. Something about the way he spoke didn't sound right, like he was having trouble pronouncing the words. "I don't belong here! I don't!" He shook his head violently. Axel took a few steps back. Demyx heard him, and his head jerked back up. The emotion was gone. His eyes narrowed into an icy glare.

"I don't belong here," he repeated coldly. "Do you know who I am!? I'm-" He stopped, and his face relaxed back to normal. He frowned. "I'm-"

"Demyx," said Axel. "You're Demyx." That appeared to be exactly the wrong thing to say. Demyx's eyes went wild.

"No I'm not! I'm-" He gritted his teeth, but nothing would come out.

He clutched his head, and he screamed.

Zexion watched. Demyx was howling. It sounded like pain. Why was he in pain? Was it the same pain Zexion felt, when Demyx couldn't remember him?

He was startled out of his thoughts when the lights in the room started to flicker. At least, he thought they were flickering- one moment he could see, and one moment he couldn't. He looked around at the other students, but none of them were reacting at all, except for Roxas, who would do nothing but stare fearfully at Axel.

And on top of that, Professor Éniman was nowhere in sight.

Just as he was opening his mouth to ask what was going on, he felt something- or someone- tug on his sleeve. He turned around, and there was a girl standing in front of him. A young, thin girl with blonde hair. Not Larxene of course, but someone new. Someone both familiar and strange.

"Come with me," she ordered, and she turned around and walked away, as if knowing he would follow, which he did. He knew her voice. She was the one who spoke to him in the cafeteria.

"You talked to me before. Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Naminé," she said impassively. "I was sent by your sister."

_Sister._

Zexion thought of the girl in his dreams. The one who visited him every night, who he could never quite remember. The word _sister_ shot through him, and suddenly, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt right.

He had a sister. How could he have forgotten her?

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Outside." Naminé stopped moving, so abruptly that Zexion almost ran into her.

"What do you mean _outside_?" he demanded.

"Outside of this place," she said tonelessly. "All of Twilight Town. This place is not real. _You _are real."

The words hit Zexion like a splash of cold water to the face.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"Your name is Zeke McLane. You grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the former United States. Your parents died in the war." Simple words, that's all they were. But _hearing _them- hearing those names, so familiar yet so foreign- stirred something deep in Zexion's mind. Memories were being dredged up from somewhere inside that he'd long since forgotten about. Had he forgotten about them, or had they simply been obscured? But one question was still bothering him.

"Then how did I get here?" Naminé didn't answer.

"Goodbye, Zeke." She smiled at him, almost fondly, though the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. And then, the world opened up. Information was flooding Zexion's mind, he was breaking open, and suddenly, he knew everything. The entire world and all its workings made perfect sense to him.

For that one, brilliant moment, Zexion was at peace.

And then everything was gone.

* * *

Steam was beginning to sneak out of the cracks in the computer. Penelo was horrified.

"Kairi! What are you doing!?"

"Almost," she muttered. "Almost-"

"You're going to break it! There's _people_ in there!"

"It won't break," she snapped, the first time she'd spoken to Penelo since stabbing her. "It's fine."

"How the hell would you know!?"

"How the hell are you still conscious?" Kairi retorted. _Just barely, _Penelo sighed, but she didn't tell Kairi that. She was getting loopy. Maybe Vaan should have been the one to come after all? A silly little stab-to-the-gut wouldn't slow him down at all. But then, Kairi would have been affecting him all this time, and who knew the extent of what her powers could do?

The nasty branches of the POEM whirred and clicked into position. Penelo had seen them go in; she'd never seen anyone come back out. Her understanding was that the train to Twilight Town was strictly one-way. But Kairi was trying to bend the rules.

"Kairi," she gasped. "_Please _stop."

Lights were flashing. The point of entry was opening up.

"Kairi, please!"

A sharp beam of light was connecting over the chair. _Hayner and Olette just had sex on that chair, _she thought stupidly.

"Kairi-"

The lights exploded. For a long moment, Penelo was blinded completely- she'd forgotten that the POEM could do that and hadn't covered her eyes. A sharp, high screeching noise penetrated her ears and she wanted to cover those too but she was beginning to go numb from the shoulders down.

And then it was over.

The noise stopped, the lights were gone. All that was left was one very three-dimensional and very real human body, slumped to one side. It hung precariously for one split second before tumbling to the ground with a meaty thwump. Penelo just stared. This- this man, right in front of her, alive and in the flesh- this was Zeke McLane, the Other she'd been studying for months. The real person. Kairi had succeeded.

But Zeke wasn't moving. He wasn't even breathing. Kairi dove to the floor to catch him, scooping him up in her arms and giving him a gentle shake, even though that was the exact last thing you were supposed to do in these situations, but she was clearly too panicked to care.

"Zeke! Hey, Zekey!" Kairi cradled him like an infant while his head lolled to one side. He was dressed exactly as the data had described- a simple shirt and sweatpants. He was the right height and his hair was the right color. Penelo kept on staring. There he was. A real person- Kairi's brother- _Caroline's _brother.

"Zeke! Come on, we have to go- wake up-" Kairi moved him to the ground and listened for a heartbeat. She started doing CPR. At least she was able to keep her head in a crisis. What would Penelo do in this situation? What if Vaan was captured the way Zeke had been?

The man next to her stirred again. She risked a glance to one side, and saw a pool of matted silver hair. Definitely Seth Corvus. She looked back at where Kairi was attempting to resuscitate her older brother. If Seth woke up, it was all over. He wasn't fully conscious yet- she still had a few moments left to act. She made a decision.

With her last bit of strength, she reached over and covered Seth's nose and mouth with her hand. A few seconds was all it took. With his air supply effectively cut off, he wasn't able to wake up- Seth Corvus twitched once, then passed back into total unconsciousness. Penelo removed her hand. At least she could buy Kairi and Zeke a little bit more time.

Apparently, it was enough. Zeke suddenly coughed, then inhaled a shuddering breath. Small wonder it was hard work- he hadn't used his own lungs in more than a year. But after the first breath, he settled into a regular pattern, deep and even, though he still wasn't waking up. Kairi held onto him and sobbed with joy. Her brother was going to live.

Penelo and Kairi had had their disagreements, to be sure. But if there was one sentiment that Penelo could get behind, it was loving one's brother.

"Hey. Kairi," she rasped. "You need to go. They'll wake up soon." And it was just about time for her to pass out, too- the sight of her own blood all over the industrial flooring was making her nauseous, and she barely had enough left in her to keep her brain working. Kairi understood, and nodded once, before scooping her brother up and gently positioning him over one shoulder.

"Bye, Penelo," she said softly, the nicest she'd ever been. "Good luck."

"Whatever," Penelo muttered back, before closing her eyes.

* * *

Kairi jogged out of the lab, Zeke in tow, and immediately realized that she had no idea where she should be going. The elevator was a no-go, obviously, and she couldn't go to her room. The important and obvious thing was that she had to go up. They weren't going to get anywhere from Shinra's basement. But how could she go up? She vaguely remembered seeing some stairs, somewhere, at some point. She picked a hallway and set off at a jog.

Zeke was heavy, but not unmanageable. Kairi was just happy to have him close, so she could always make sure he was still breathing. Those moments when he wasn't, when she thought he wasn't going to wake up-

No. No time to think about that now.

She made it as far as the old dormitories before stopping to think about where exactly she was trying to get to. The line of thinking was that it would be easier to find stairs from where she'd lived for almost two years- muscle memory, and all that. But now she was here, and she was as stuck as she'd been when she'd started. The only option was to keep moving.

Zeke's breathing was low and even, entirely inappropriate to the situation. Kairi's own was sharp and ragged, and her heart was racing. She only had so much time before the men she'd knocked out woke up, and only so much time after that before they realized what had happened.

Then suddenly, she heard footsteps. Her breath hitched in her throat.

They were getting closer, but they weren't moving quickly or anything, so an alarm hadn't been raised. Just a normal guard.

Kairi looked back and forth before she centered on a small door in a corner. She dove over to it. The door was locked, of course, but she tore it open easily- it felt good to use her Other strength for once- and ducked inside. It was a standard maintenance closet, all electronics and tools she didn't recognize. She laid down her brother as far away from the entrance as she could manage, and crouched down to listen for the threat to pass.

"Am I in purgatory?" Kairi whirled around. Zeke was sitting up, but his eyes were barely open.

"Zeke…?" she asked softly. She hadn't been expecting it, but all of a sudden, she was afraid. Afraid of his reaction. How badly had his mind been damaged? Would he ever be able to recover? And why hadn't she thought of any of this before?

"I died," he said flatly. That was it- he went back to heavy silence. But Kairi panicked anyway.

"Oh my God, Zeke, are you ok?" She abandoned the door, it would still be there in a few minutes, and rushed over to her brother. His eyes were intently focused on something she couldn't see, but she tried to get his attention anyway. "You're not dead. This isn't purgatory, it's the middle of New York City." Zeke ignored her.

And suddenly, the ground disappeared.

Everything was darkness. Kairi was spinning out of control, dropping into the abyss, reaching out to grab something, _anything_-

"Zeke! _Zeke_! Stop it!" The ground and the closet reappeared as quickly as they'd left. Zeke was shaking. His eyes were wide.

"I don't think I was ever very religious, so I probably wasn't baptized," he mused, the slightest of anxious wavers in his voice. "Is this Hell?"

"Zeke, listen to me," Kairi whispered harshly. "You didn't die_. _This isn't the afterlife, it's the during-life. And I'm your sister, and I'm going to get you out of this closet and _back_ to your during-life. Are you listening to me? _You did not die!_"

"Sister," Zeke repeated slowly. "Tell me." He slowly raised his dull eyes to meet Kairi's. "How did it end?"

* * *

Sorry if all the POV switches were totally schizophrenic. The good news is that the next chapter, Zexion's flashback, has been sitting on my hard drive mostly written for months and months, so the next chapter shouldn't take NEARLY as long to post. Not to mention that the action is starting now, so we've got some momentum. And soon we'll get to see Sora and Riku again, since the rest of the story is catching up to them, time-wise. (They accidentally ended up a day in front of everyone else. Oops. Betcha didn't notice!)

Tune in for our next installment, wherein Demyx introduces everyone to his menagerie of imaginary friends, and everyone just sort of goes with it so as not to provoke him.

Q-OF-THE-UPDATE: This one is for everyone, but the new readers especially! How does the story flow, as a whole? Are the style and pacing consistent? Do the ongoing plot threads make sense? Are there any details you find lacking? Is there anything you would change? I, for one, am always stopping to wonder why the hell these people don't have cell phones. Then I remind myself that it's the dystopian future, and cell phones are expensive. LOL.


	31. Chapter 31

Zeke McLane stretched the ski mask over his head, redoing it twice to make sure none of his distinctive purple hair was showing. He glanced over at his reflection. As usual, he looked more like a kid on Halloween than a criminal; sad gray eyes peered out at him from the slit in the mask, and he was about half the size of the rest of the members of this, well, he supposed you'd call it a _gang_. Instead of looking threatening, the effect was rather pathetic. They didn't even have enough guns for him to carry one.

Yes, outside of this group and sans this get-up, he was Zeke McLane, mild-mannered war orphan, brilliant high school student, and Brooklyn resident. With the get-up, he was _The Cloaked Schemer_, criminal genius, who walked right into banks and other such establishments and robbed them blind without anyone even noticing he was there. The silly nickname the press had come up with and frantic reporting surrounding his heists almost made him worry that some wacko in a cape was going to show up to try to stop him. He supposed if he had it to do over, he would have made an excellent comic book villain.

"Lookin' good, Zekey," an especially burly and stupid henchman guffawed, clapping him on the back. Zeke felt his lungs cave in. Physical prowess was not really his, as they say, thing.

"Oh, shut it," he muttered, and caught a mouthful of cotton in the process. He hacked miserably, and yanked his mask down to take a desperate gulp of air.

"None of that on the job, now, _boss_," another thug jeered at him. All Zeke could do in retaliation was glare sullenly. They wouldn't hurt him- he was their livelihood. Putting up with their crap was still obnoxious, though.

Zeke had never _asked _to join up with organized crime. The first few heists he had pulled off by himself, only taking enough money to basically pay rent and buy food. Unfortunately, his flawless technique had caught the attention of the wrong part of town. How useful would it be to have someone who, with just a thought, could make himself invisible to everyone around him? So, the powers that be had unsubtly told him that they'd kill him and his sister unless he joined up. Very persuasive, those powers that be.

Unfortunately, Zeke ended up stealing much more money than he could ever possibly need, and at 17 there was no way he could open his own bank account (the funds in which he would probably end up stealing back anyway,) so to stop his sister from finding out what he was doing for money, he took to donating it anonymously. This meant that he had approximately four lives going on at once- not only the mild-mannered-war-orphan-high-schooler-and-Brooklyn-resident one, but also full time guardian, criminal mastermind, and millionaire philanthropist. He was, of course, only 17, and he'd only been 11 when his parents had died, so he had to do quite a bit of projective mental gymnastics and forgery to get him and his sister released from the orphanage where they'd been stuck, and then convince Child Protection Services and his landlord that he was old enough to both be a legal guardian, and to rent an apartment. All of these different lies were understandably causing chaos in Zeke's too-young brain. He once accidentally convinced all of the kids in his school cafeteria that the lunch lady was a criminal mastermind posing as a millionaire philanthropist and trying to gain guardianship of all of them so she could steal their money and rent an illegal apartment. That had been a fun day.

"Ok. You bums all know what we're doing?" A series of grunts and nods passed around the room. Six guys, plus Zeke, so seven total. _Six too many for a bank heist, _Zeke thought with a sigh. The crew walked out of their meeting place, an old warehouse on the East River, and piled into a rather shady-looking windowless van, their typical getaway car. Zeke could make it look like whatever they wanted, so why bother getting something nice?

"Do you want me to hide the van?" Zeke asked, and very politely, too, he thought.

"Ungh," the driver grunted back at him. Zeke opted to interpret that as a "No, thank you" and settled back into his seat for the ride. Since he was the smallest, he always got stuck in a middle seat between two oversized meatheads, and today was no different. Meathead #1 reeked of cat food, and Meathead #2 had a full forearm tattoo of a hot girl eating a popsicle. _Seriously, you couldn't just go for the naked lady? Had to jump straight through to the blowjob innuendo? Jesus. _Though, subtlety had never been his coworkers' strong suit. That was part of why they loved him so much, he supposed- with him present, they could be as rowdy and violent as they wanted, and no one would ever know. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of being rowdy and violent, though? Zeke wanted to pick someone's brain on the topic, but wisely decided against it.

Zeke couldn't see outside from the back of the van, but he knew they were going south, towards the financial district. He closed his eyes and tried to gather some strength. He'd have to work up a heck of an illusion to block Fancy Feast's smell, and he was exhausted. In school he'd had two tests, and then afterwards he had to pick Carrie up from soccer, and then he had to haul ass all the way into the city to meet up with these people, and now he was going to a bank heist… Zeke McLane felt like walking death. He silently vowed to never, ever have children.

"We're here," the driver drawled, slamming on the brakes. Zeke forced down nausea and readjusted his ski mask. He'd go in first- he always did. He clambered over Tattoo Arm and tumbled out the door of the van. There he was, right in front of the National Bank. A couple people on the wide marble steps stopped to stare at him. With a moment's concentration, he made himself invisible to everyone near the imposing building, and all of the busy New Yorkers blinked and moved right along. He walked straight up to the bank and through the doors without so much as a glance from security. He tried to focus on the positive. At least with his involvement, no one would get needlessly hurt, right? _No one but me._

Zeke stopped in the middle of the lobby, directly underneath a massive skylight. The evening light floated around him, bathing him in a hazy glow. He closed his eyes, and concentrated, focusing on all of the people rushing around the bank. Hundreds of them, about to be hoodwinked into ignoring a pack of thugs. He reached into each mind, remaking their perceptions as he saw fit, at first one at a time, then in a flood, dropping a fog before hundreds of eyes. When he was satisfied that he'd effectively stacked the deck in their favor, he gestured at the rest of his team, still waiting in the doorway.

Six hulking men in flak jackets and masks ran into the bank. No one saw.

"Don't touch anyone," Zeke reminded as they rushed past him. No one heard.

And so he waited, standing in place, the weight of a thousand lies resting on his shoulders. His concentration was unwavering. He only had to hold on for a few minutes, in any case, before the group got back with the money. Zeke looked around at all the people who couldn't see him, like he was on the window side of a one-way mirror. Most of the bank patrons were crowded around the ATMs, all except for one, conspicuously labeled "OUT OF ORDER." A woman was clutching her tiny son's hand, rushing him across the floor, clearly in a hurry to somewhere. Zeke sighed. Hopefully that kid wouldn't be robbing banks someday. Oh, to be able to tell his sister what he did for a living.

After exactly three minutes and forty-eight seconds, the gang came back, each guy loaded down with two bags. Smooth operations, as usual. He was exhausted. Why did the bank have to be so crowded, today of all days? Carrie might still need help with her math homework, and he had a lab report to type up by third period tomorrow. As he worried about being a mild-mannered high school student, the illusion began to crack.

"Ok, boss, let's go," a thug jeered, grabbing him by the arm. Zeke was startled out of his concentration. And the whole lie came tumbling down around him. For one glistening moment, they all just stood there, completely exposed.

Then the panic started.

"FREEZE!" a security guard shouted, racing for the door. One of the thieves pulled out his gun and started firing at the ceiling. The shells rattled painfully across the tile floor. The bank patrons scattered in a blind panic, most of them stampeding for the exit. Which was, of course, exactly where Zeke's gang was standing. The thug that had tugged on his arm scooped him up and tossed him over one shoulder- how sad that he was small enough to be tossed over one shoulder- and together, they went barreling directly into the crowd.

Zeke made a mental note never to underestimate the power of large, burly men. Of course, the gun he was waving didn't hurt, either. They cut through the panicked throng with total ease, out the door in a matter of seconds. The van was waiting for them, and they went tumbling inside even as the vehicle was picking up speed. The door slammed shut behind them.

"Hurry up and hide us, Wonder-Boy!" the driver snarled. "What the hell happened back there?"

"My concentration was broken," Zeke said flatly. "Don't let it happen again." The one that had grabbed him moved to say something, probably in his defense, but he was shushed. Zeke himself was more focused on disguising their getaway vehicle. They needed something flashy, but that wouldn't draw any suspicion. He decided on an expensive red convertible being driven by a pretty blonde. If anyone tried to pull anything, he'd just flirt with them. For other men that may have been a problem, but luckily or otherwise, flirting with other dudes was well within the realm of Zeke McLane's life experience.

The van stopped. Thanks to Zeke's handiwork, the drive had been totally without incident. The gang went tumbling out of the van doors, into the open night air, and a couple guys went to work unloading the cash. Zeke emerged too, and brushed himself off, all before glancing around and realizing he had absolutely no idea where they were.

"What? Where are we?" No one answered him. Two of the especially large thugs glanced at each other, and nodded. Before Zeke could react, they grabbed both of his arms. A third came towards him, holding a bag. Zeke's eyes widened, and he tried to pull his arms free.

"Sorry, kid. They offered us triple for you," he said apologetically, before dropping the bag over Zeke's head. He screamed. No one heard him- at least, no one who could help. He was too small to save himself. Despite his wildest thrashing, the two men easily lifted him up, and dumped him in the back of a second car, only pausing to snap some handcuffs on him. Zeke screamed bloody murder and made noise with every part of his body he could manage- rattling the handcuffs, kicking the sides of the car. Almost immediately, he felt cold metal push against the side of his head.

"You try to do anything funny in our heads, I pull the trigger," the man said flatly. Zeke immediately lay still. He'd been in such a panic, he hadn't even thought of that. And now that he was in the car, it was too late. He could try to convince them all he was a massive heap of cow feces or something, but he figured they'd find that implausible, and trying anything external, especially considering he couldn't see, would probably lead to the car crashing and killing all of them indiscriminately.

He had so many questions. _Where are you taking me? _was top of the list. _Who would pay money for me? _Were they taking him to jail? He hadn't known there was a bounty on his head. He would've known. But he stayed entirely silent. Having a gun pushed up against your head does that to you.

Slowly, he began to realize- this was the end. He was going to die. He'd always known, of course. Ever since he'd signed up with these people, he'd been operating on borrowed time. He was too valuable to be set free.

_I'm so sorry, Carrie, _he thought miserably. If only their powers were switched, and she could hear him. _I'm so fucking sorry._

"We're almost there." A gruff voice from the front of the car. "Put him out." A large hand slipped underneath the lid of the bag covering his face, clutching a piece of cloth. The drug was shoved in front of his nose and mouth. He barely had a chance to recognize it- _chloroform- _before all of the trauma was fading, and darkness stole him away.

* * *

When he came to, someone was extracting a needle from his arm. He could feel the drug entering his blood stream. A stimulant- they wanted him awake. He was being pushed down, into a chair that he couldn't see. He still had a bag over his head.

"Are you sure this is going to work, sir?" a woman asked, as she buckled his hands down. He wanted to struggle, but his limbs were sluggish, and man, that would just be work. His brain was swimming. He could smell smoke.

"Fuck, it worked for the last five, didn't it? Now take that shit off his face." Zeke felt small hands reach around his head to remove the mask. The lights that hit his eyes were decidedly unnatural, and it took a long moment for him to adjust. Wide track lighting was coming up at him from the floor, tinted blue, not from the ceiling and yellow like normal. He couldn't say that he liked it.

The woman who had removed his mask was small and delicate, dressed in a knee-length lab coat, with long brown hair swept back into a ponytail that somehow didn't look lazy. Her polished appearance was a sharp contrast with her foul-mouthed coworker, a large and burly blonde man in a normal jacket and jeans. He had a lit cigarette clenched in his teeth, which was probably some kind of no-no in a lab this high-tech. Well, at least that explained where the smoke smell was coming from. They probably weren't going to set him on fire. Probably.

"Are we almost ready? Hayner! You little shit!" A small teenage boy- he looked even younger than Zeke himself, maybe Carrie's age, maybe younger- jumped and started punching numbers into a console, even faster than he had been. Something above Zeke's head was beginning to whirr and move around. His head was too heavy to look up.

"Should I start the countdown, sir?" the woman asked tiredly. The fatigue in her voice was telling. That was all he was to them. A job.

"Nah, we'll just flip the switch. It'll either work, or it won't." The man rubbed a hand across his nose. Memories were slowly seeping back into Zeke's mind, memories of not hours before- _they offered us triple for you- _he'd been _sold- _sold to these people? For what purpose? What were they going to do to him?

"Wait," he choked. "Please." Either no one heard him, or they all pretended not to. He wasn't sure which one would be worse.

"Hey, kid! Hit it!" The boy- Hayner- nodded once, then pulled a lever. Zeke cast one more frantic look around the room, begging for help. The three people stared right back at him, watching expectantly, as if he were about to do something very exciting. Because of course that's all he was to these people.

A science experiment.

A light came on above him- he couldn't see where- he felt something tugging at the back of his head. Sharp bursts of air were shooting out of the machine he was strapped to, causing his long hair to whip around his eyes.

The large man met his eyes. There was something hiding there. Guilt.

"Please," Zeke screamed. "Please help me-"

He was interrupted by a high whine. His body lurched back in the chair. His head was forced back, and he stared directly up into the light. Everything was fading away- closing off- walls were being built.

His eyes rolled closed, and he gave himself up entirely.

* * *

Kairi paced the closet anxiously. She was all for giving her brother some time to come to, of course; however, time was unfortunately not something that they had. At least half an hour had gone by since he'd woken up, and he wasn't showing any signs of interacting with the world, or moving around. Ever since he'd finished babbling about religion, he hadn't said anything at all.

_I should have asked Naminé about this, _she thought irritably. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but still, Naminé could have given her at least some insight onto how the reconstruction would work. _Selective memory triggering, _she'd said, about their modification experiments- she must have done something similar to Zeke. He knew who he was. He was just a little confused, that was all. Well, very confused.

"Ok. Sorry, Zekey, but we have to go," she hissed, grabbing his arm. He yanked it back. "Seriously. We can't stay here, or they'll take you back. And me, too. And we can't let that happen. We're leaving, even if I have to carry you." She tugged on his hand again, and he still refused to get up. With a resigned sigh, she lifted him up, bridal style. He didn't struggle, but he didn't help her out, either. His body was completely limp.

Kairi nudged the door open and sneaked both of them out into the hallway. No one was close, she could tell that much. Not many people came down here anyway, and at this time of night, Hayner, Pence, and Olette would most likely be asleep. Or boning each other. But in any case, they weren't going to get in the way. And, of course, Penelo was too busy bleeding out on the lab floor.

_Penelo. _Kairi felt something not entirely unlike a pang of guilt. No, she didn't need to be guilty- Penelo was a brilliant girl, and an Other- a little beer bottle to the gut wasn't going to kill her. As loathe as she was to admit it, she was the only one who Kairi could trust to take care of Naminé. Penelo was more than capable of fielding Ansem, of explaining herself to Seth Corvus the vampire, and of completing Shinra's programmable-people party. Kairi had only come down here to retrieve her brother- now that that was done, she could happily pass her load on to her former assistant.

So why did she feel so damn _bad_ about it?

She forced herself to focus on looking for stairs. No good to dwell on decisions she had or hadn't made. She had a whole lifetime of freedom ahead of her in which to feel bad about shit if she so chose. Now was the time for action.

"Stairs," she muttered. "I need to find stairs." She was tearing down an empty hallway, brother in her arms, pausing only briefly with her eyes to read the description on each door, few and far between. Every single one was some kind of utility closet. Until finally, at the very end, she found exactly what she was looking for.

_Stairs A, _the dingy little sign said, but to Kairi, it was a glowing beacon of hope.

"Found 'em!" she cheered. "Going up, Zeke!" Her brother didn't answer. In two hits, she kicked the door open, and prepared to dash inside, only to be faced with an entirely ordinary utility closet.

"Uh," she gaped. "What?" She automatically peeked behind a console to see if there were stairs hiding somewhere. No- she must've misread the sign. But she could have _sworn _that the sign on the door said Stairs A! Another quick check revealed that the door did indeed have a simple little sign that read _Utility Closet. _Just like all the other doors they'd passed.

"God _dammit,_" she hissed. Zeke recoiled at the sudden display of anger. Kairi felt another pang. How was she going to rescue her brother if she terrified him? "Oh, jesus, Zeke! I'm so sorry."

"You wanted stairs," Zeke whispered, the first time he'd spoken since they'd left their first hiding spot. "I gave you stairs." Kairi's breath hitched in her throat. _Zeke _had created the sign?

"Oh-" she stammered. What could she say? "Oh, Zeke. We need _real _stairs." She felt like she was talking to a very small child. Her heart was breaking.

"I don't know what you want," he said dully, and he turned his head away, as clear an indication as any that he didn't want to speak anymore. He made no move to show he wanted to walk on his own, either.

She carried him for what felt like hours, though it couldn't have been nearly that long. Every hallway looked the same, bleak and institutional, and the underground floors of the Shinra building could only be described as a labyrinth. No one was _meant _to be able to get out, not if Shinra didn't want them to. Use the elevators, or stay and rot. That was how life was down here.

And then, at the end of an especially long and especially dismal hallway, she found them. Stairs. Real stairs. The door said stairs, and when she kicked it open, there were stairs inside. They were going up.

"This is it! Thank fuck," she whispered excitedly. She was so excited, in fact, that she was completely oblivious to the man sneaking up behind her.

"Come on-" she said, before everything lurched to a rather aggressive halt. She couldn't move anything. A violent wave of nausea passed through her. She was being held in place by something inside- Zeke was too- and she became very painfully aware of the man standing behind her. Someone she'd met before, whose presence she'd recognize anywhere.

"Try to resist and I will pop you both like little water balloons," he said coolly. "_C'est bon, c'est retenu_?"

* * *

Oh dear. Oh dear indeed.

Hey. I just updated in less than a week. Do you all still love me now? Eh? It's unlikely that I'll get a chance to update again before Christmas, though, so Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. :D

Tune in to our next installment, wherein Démé Desmarais writes the songs that make the whole world sing.

Q OF THE UPDATE: Name our dear cameos this chap! I have a tendency to stick random characters in places. Just 'cause I felt like it. Because I'm the author, and I can. So yeah- who were the two people in the lab with Hayner? Y'all should all know this one. ;)


	32. Chapter 32

AUTHOR NOTE: Many thanks to And Back Again for correcting my terrible French! You're a hero. Is all I'm sayin'. :)

* * *

Vaan decided it would be best to wait until nighttime to go back to the lower east side. That made perfect sense, of course, since Sora's wingspan would attract too much attention during the day. Kytes didn't like the surface and had decided to stay behind, all while Riku waited for his nose to clear out and dug around for something to cover his hair. His shoulder was almost completely healed.

Sora had his own reasons for bringing Vaan back to see Leon, of course. No matter what his stupidly cheerful demeanor said, he hadn't gotten over the loss of his brother's beloved motorcycle. He wasn't able to get the truth out of his thieving acquaintance, but Leon, now, _Leon _could get _anything _out of _anybody. _All he had to do was stare at you with his mild disapproval and creepy vampire mojo, and you'd be bursting into tears and confessing that you cheated on your third grade math test. That was just how he was. That was the effect he had on people.

So, if anyone could get Vaan to cough up what black powers he'd dipped into to impossibly separate Cloud from his precious bike, it was Leon. Plus, Sora was a little weirded out by the vampire experimentation crap, and figured he could do his bit to help. But mostly he was worried about Cloud.

"Ok. So, Sora can fly and stay out of sight, while me and Riku stick to the ground. Sound good?" Vaan was rapidly formulating an action plan. They didn't really need one, of course, and Sora and Riku had made it to the upper west side just fine, but Vaan seemed to just really like action plans, so they went along with it.

"Sounds good," said Riku. He'd been awfully quiet the entire day. He was really taking the idea that his dad had been captured by an evil multi-national corporation for illegal experiments to heart, even though they hadn't proven anything yet. Making Riku feel better was Sora's secondary mission, after finding Cloud.

"Be careful," said Kytes. "Mjrn says be careful, too, and don't be afraid to come back if you don't make it." Sora didn't especially see that happening, but he could see how terrifying the outside world could seem to these people. Mjrn wouldn't last five minutes in downtown Manhattan.

He remembered the woman who cut off her own wings.

"We'll be careful," he smiled. Mjrn smiled back.

She and Kytes waved energetically as the three adventurers left the same way they'd come in. The tunnel narrowed, then widened back into the familiar subway structure, tiny APDs glittering from corners. Sora was still claustrophobic, but he felt better knowing that they were going up and out, and not farther down. Vaan was out in front humming absently to himself. Riku, bringing up the rear, was silent.

"Riku," he said quietly, ruffling his wings to get his friend's attention. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," said Riku shortly, in a way that quite clearly indicated that he was not fine at all.

"Is it about your dad?" he pressed.

Silence.

"You shouldn't dwell," Sora chided, pulling out a favorite bit of advice that he'd pulled from his mother. Its beautiful simplicity had served him well over the years. Sora was not the dwelling type- if he were, he would've stopped going outside the day his wings started growing in, and then where would he be?

"Sora, stop it," Riku snapped. Sora's wings drooped a little, but he stopped. It wasn't like he didn't understand the pain of a missing relative, even if his own missing-in-action was a perfectly ordinary human being. But, well, he couldn't help it if Riku was upset- he would have to wait until Riku brought it up himself.

See? Not dwelling.

They reached the first patterned subway tiles, indicating that they were very close to the exit. Vaan stopped humming. Sora heard Riku tuck his face and hair into the hooded jacket he'd found. They were steeling their defenses, getting ready to go into the outside world. Sora, of course, just was what he was, and had no defenses to steel.

But he wasn't dwelling.

The three snuck out of the secret entrance, and found themselves on a perfectly ordinary, deserted city street, in the total darkness of night, like they'd planned. Sora quickly inhaled a deep breath, marveling at how refreshing the filthy city air tasted compared to what was underground. For the first time in what felt like hours, he snapped his wings open to their full span, startling both of his companions.

"Dude. Don't do that," Vaan hissed, dropping his hands back down to his sides from where they'd leaped up into a defensive position.

"Oh, geez. Sorry," Sora whispered quickly, and his wings dropped back down. Riku didn't say anything.

"Ok," said Vaan. "Me and Riku will walk. Sora, you'll be flying. Stay low, close to the tops of buildings, and let us know if you see anything suspicious. Got it?"

"Lookout," Sora nodded. "Got it." Riku said nothing. His expression was unreadable in the shadows of the hood.

Sora flapped up to the nearest fire escape, and from there to a low roof. It felt good to stretch his wings. Up in the air, doing what his body did best, it was easy to forget that his brother was missing and that his only friend was in distress. He let his mind go blank as he glided silently from building to building.

* * *

"Demyx?" The word came out of Zexion's throat quietly, almost as if he hadn't meant to say it all, which he hadn't, not really. He was just excited to see a familiar face. The world was overwhelming. Not being able to move, the way he was now, was almost a reassuring improvement.

"That's not Demyx," the woman- his sister- said sharply.

"_Très bon_! You know me already," the man who was Demyx, but somehow not, said cheerfully. He kept making sounds that Zexion couldn't understand. "_Je m'appelle _Démé. Have we met?" Zexion moved to say yes.

"No," said Kairi. Her words were clipped, probably because she couldn't move.

"Are you sure?" Demyx stood there, glancing back and forth, but his eyes lingered longer on Zexion's face, without even the slightest glimmer of recognition. He brought a hand up to his chin and thumbed it thoughtfully. "_Vous me semblez familiers_…" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I need to take you back with me. _Avec moi._" Were it physically possible, Kairi tensed up even more. Zexion could sense it. Probably because she was his sister. But right now, he had a more pressing concern.

"What are those sounds you're making?" he asked curiously. He heard Kairi grit her teeth, but he didn't have the energy to wonder why she was upset.

"Sounds? _Sons_? Sounds?" He frowned. "_Je ne sais pas…_ _Je ne _know _pas… _I don't know. _Pas_." His frown deepened into something resembling concern- his brow furrowed- his lips curled into a frustrated pout. "_Quest-que ce qui ce passe? _What is happening to me…?"

"It's normal," Kairi said quickly. "Ce- uh, _c'est normal_." The words sounded harsh and unnatural coming from her, without any of the easy fluidity that came from Demyx.

"_C'est normal_?" Demyx repeated. Suddenly, he doubled over with a groan, clutching his forehead. Zexion wanted to run and catch him, but he couldn't, and immediately, Demyx was up again- a different expression, darker, filled with something evil. His eyes shot between Kairi and Zexion, quicker than before and as if he hadn't just finished doing the same- but this time, his eyes locked on Kairi's face, and filled with a violent hate.

"You!" he shouted. But just as he did so, his facial muscles went slack, his eyes widened, and he collapsed, un-moving, to the ground. Suddenly Zexion was able to move again, and he inhaled a sharp breath, just as Kairi grabbed onto his hand and kicked the door open, exposing the stairs they'd worked so hard to find.

"Come on!" she snapped, pulling Zexion's somewhat unwilling weight behind her as she leaped up the first flight of stairs. Zexion, however, was mentally stuck behind.

"Demyx…?" he whispered, so that his sister couldn't hear him.

* * *

Kairi swore violently in her fogged-up brain. It had taken more energy that she would've liked to knock out Démé Demarais, and she didn't have much left for running. She was burning through on pure, panicked adrenaline.

_I should have seen this coming! _She mentally kicked herself- or rather, mentally beat herself to a bloody pulp. She'd been the one monitoring the project, after all. There was no reason at all why she hadn't had the foresight to see it being used against herself.

Naminé was the one who chose Demyx. He was basically the perfect candidate, by any criteria they could've possibly come up with. The goal, of course, was to 'program' him to work for Shinra- since he was the only one of the bunch who actually _had _worked for Shinra in the past, the framework, as it were, was already there. Naminé's grand master plan was to use something she called 'selective memory triggering'- that is, 'trigger' his original personality to resurface, reinforce the memories such as working for Shinra that worked to their benefit, and then 'implant' new memories via plausible suggestion. _The memory is very fallible, _she'd said. Yeah, thanks, Naminé.

Of course, that hadn't been the only reason she'd chosen Demyx for her crazy brain-experiments. Rumors had long since flown throughout Former France that the heir to the Desmarais fortune was mentally unstable. Upon procuring the elusive man, however, Kairi had discovered the rumors were true and then some. Extensive childhood trauma had resulted in several mental disorders. Most prominently, Démé Desmarais was violently bipolar. Evidence of multiple personalities was around, as well. He was, as they say, very much not all there in the head.

And now, said unstable experiment was trying to kill her. Great. Her life was great.

Zeke was dragging along behind her, unable or unwilling to pick up the pace to save his life. The hope in his voice when he'd seen Demyx… no, there was no time to think about that now. Demyx- Démé- both of them would not be out of it for long, and the compounded mental issues were most definitely going to be giving her a bad day.

"Come _on, _Zekey! Do you want to go back there!?" she shouted desperately. They'd made it up fewer than five flights of stairs. Zeke didn't look at her. "Zeke!" she repeated. He ignored her. The name meant nothing to him. He was a shell of who she remembered- he was a new person entirely.

"_Zexion,_" she sighed weakly. He startled and looked up at her.

"Sister," he said slowly, as if he were reminding himself who she was.

"Yes. Sister," she said quickly, too scared to worry about his mental state or lack thereof. "Listen. We have to go."

"We left Demyx," Zeke said stubbornly. "We can't leave Demyx." He looked sadly down the stairwell they'd just come up. As much as she cared about her brother, Kairi officially did not have _time _for this shit.

"I told you, Demyx is gone," she said impatiently. "And, yes we damn well can." She was strong enough, or rather Zeke was weak enough, that she was able to drag him along even without his full cooperation. They were almost ten flights up, now. Kairi couldn't remember how deep the basement went- they were probably above ground, but she couldn't be sure. She was losing count, her legs were screaming, but she had to keep going _up. _Up meant freedom.

"Demyx is my friend," Zeke said sadly.

"I know, Zekey. But that _was not Demyx._"

She was making no progress in convincing him otherwise, when suddenly, she heard a groan. The sound wasn't human, but it was strangely familiar. As soon as it had disappeared, it came back, louder, and accompanied by a sharp hiss. She tugged Zeke's hand, and tried to climb faster.

"Pipes," said Zeke dully. Kairi didn't have a chance to process what he'd said before the walls exploded.

Water was pouring out from everywhere, up, down, underneath, as turbulent as river rapids. Kairi was immediately knocked off balance. Zeke didn't try to resist, and was swept down, basically unharmed, but Kairi was tossed from side to side- her head cracked against the railing, her knee pounded against a step, she tumble-rolled down two flights of stairs before she was able to grab onto a hold and stop herself, nearly tugging her arm out of its socket in the process.

Were it not for her extra strength, she most definitely would have been unconscious- or, more likely, dead. Her free hand was still grasping her brother's.

"You're hurt," said Zeke, indicating where the blood was beginning to mat in Kairi's hair.

"We'll fix it later," she said hoarsely. "Come on." The worst of the waterfall was gone, and she was able to pull her brother up and restart the climb.

Démé was gaining on them- he had to be. The only reason they weren't unconscious yet was because he wasn't at full strength. He also almost definitely would have orders to bring them in alive. Those were his orders with Alexei Gorodetsky, right? And she and Zeke were too valuable to lose. Démé himself- that brief moment where his genuine self had cut through- was out for revenge. Not that Kairi could blame him, of course. She'd want the same thing. But not now- not when she'd come so far.

Zeke was slightly less resistant than he had been. Maybe he just hated getting wet, but he ran of his own volition, without waiting for Kairi to pull him behind her. Démé was behind them. Maybe two flights, maybe ten. Her head was spinning. She was losing blood. They couldn't go up anymore- it was time to go out.

She banked right, with Zeke right behind her, and kicked open a door, shutting it behind them even though Démé would be able to tell where they'd left, anyway. They found themselves in an empty hallway not at all unlike the ones in the basement. Shinra was Shinra was Shinra. Kairi ran in a straight line, knowing eventually they'd have to hit a side of a building, and lacking both the time and the energy for labyrinthine shenanigans.

Finally, at the end of a hallway, she caught a glimpse of black. Windows. It was nighttime- she knew that, sort of academically, but so many months and years without night, and she'd almost forgotten to expect it. She tugged Zeke's hand and ran straight for the row of windows- even if there were no proper exits, they could always break one and leave that way.

They were close.

They were closer.

Freedom. Sky.

Kairi hit the first window, pressed her palms against the thick glass, and looked down to see what they would land on when they jumped, only to receive a very, very nasty surprise.

The lab was not quite as far underground as they'd thought.

They were at least ten stories up. Probably more. Kairi swallowed hard- she had a bit of a thing with heights. More specifically, jumping off of them. Most people probably did. It was a self-preservation thing. People, as a rule, were not meant to go flying through the sky with no sort of mechanical help. Actually, they probably weren't supposed to with mechanical help, either. They'd just circumvented that particular restriction.

While her mind raced with irrelevant trivia, her body remained rigid, her jaw slack. This was it. Dead end. She was dead. Or rather, worse than dead. She was going to be brain-wiped. Her brother was going to be re-brain-wiped. They would live together in blissful ignorance, forever trapped in virtual reality while horrifying experiments were run on their DNA.

"Carrie," Zeke said, addressing her by real name for the first time since she'd freed him, though even that wasn't enough to cut through her daze. "What now?"

"You stay put, that's what," a harsh voice said. Démé- he'd caught up. Kairi weakly turned to face him. "Ugh. You're soaked. And she's bleeding," he said, pointing at Kairi's head. A slow smile crossed his deranged lips. "Did you know that blood is mostly made up of water?" he asked sweetly, almost conversationally, were it not for the implicit threat.

Kairi did nothing. She was dead anyway.

"Leave her alone," Zeke said softly. "Demyx." Zeke was sticking up for her. Well, that was nice. She could thank him for it once she was brain dead.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, _Zeke McLane_," Démé drawled, with undue emphasis on the name. Zeke stiffened, but otherwise didn't respond. "You're dangerous. Too dangerous, in fact, to be roaming around on your own like this. _Comprends_?" His eyes turned to Kairi. She saw the way they changed, saw the hate and rage and hurt and fear in them, and she stared right through.

"And _you," _he said slowly. He took a step forward to accentuate their height difference. Kairi lifted her chin and refused to break eye contact, out of instinct more than intention. "_You… _will get a special treatment." He lifted a hand. Kairi closed her eyes.

But even as she waited, no strike came. She didn't explode, she didn't bleed out, she wasn't beaten to a gory pulp. When she opened her eyes, Démé Desmarais was still standing not two feet before her. He was not, however, looking at her anymore. He was whirling around, frantically, as if he had never seen the hallway before.

Zeke's eyes were trained on his face, unblinking.

He'd saved her life.

"I won't let you get hurt," Zeke said firmly, the faintest trace of his old self resurfacing, though his voice was still quiet. Kairi released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

"Zeke…" Even as she said it, his face began to crumple, his momentary strength lost.

"He thinks he's in a room with no door," he finally whispered. "It's- it's all I could come up with."

"Oh, Zeke…" Her breath was short, her heart was pounding. A look of intense frustration was on Démé's face as he placed a hand upon a wall that wasn't actually there. She slumped against a window, knowing that she didn't have time to rest. They'd gone up far too high. She needed a new plan- a plan to get them out of here. Who knew how long Zeke's illusion would hold?

Unfortunately, Démé Desmarais was not even close to the most pressing of her problems, not that she had any way of knowing it. While they were being chased, the Shinra administration had sounded the alarm. Wanted terrorists were loose in the building.

Just as Kairi leaned against that window, Shinra's own security force was rounding the corner and preparing to open fire. The first bullet hit the window right next to her shoulder.

The glass gave.

Kairi fell.

* * *

Sora was flapping silently from building to building above them. Riku would almost forget he was there, until there'd be a sudden flash of white in his line of vision, and then he'd remember, and then forget again. Even though the streets were empty, he and Vaan were completely silent, as if speaking would, against all odds, draw some kind of untoward attention.

Kyoto at night was nothing like this. The streets were empty, the air was heavy, and, to borrow a favorite cliché, the silence was deafening. Riku was overwhelmed by the ringing in his own ears. Wasn't New York supposed to be 'the city that never sleeps'? He uncomfortably rotated his shoulder, as if to reassure himself that it really had healed.

"Dude. Are you ok?" Vaan asked quietly. Riku nodded. He'd found a hooded jacket to cover up his hair, which gave him a sort of awkward tunnel-vision, which wasn't helping the creepy, isolated feeling in the least.

Sora passed by overhead. Riku caught the tail-end of his flight. He curved slightly, then landed on another building. Riku remembered the flying from just days before, and he had to say, he was much happier on the ground the way God intended.

… _help…. ple-….. please help… me…._

Riku froze.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. Vaan raised an eyebrow, and shook his head no.

_I need help- please- help me please._

"There it was again," he hissed.

"Dude. Are you _sure _you're ok?" But before Riku could say anything, there was a mad flurry from directly above them. Sora took off, bolting in full view towards downtown, framed by tall buildings and threatening to disappear from view.

"Sora! Dammit, Sora!" Riku and Vaan shared a quick glance, swore, and then took off after him. Mysterious creepy voices could wait. Luckily, Sora had maintained enough sense to fly close to the ground, so they were able to keep up with him, if barely. Their only saving grace was that Sora was so starkly visible, it was nearly impossible to lose sight of him.

Sora himself, against all logic, seemed to know _exactly _where he was going, even as Vaan and Riku struggled to follow him. At least he stuck to city streets. Until, that is, he appeared to decide that that was much too slow, and banked upwards, cutting diagonally across a residential block and disappearing from view.

"Oh, fuck," Vaan swore.

"Come on, we can still sense him!" Sora was distant, but the feeling he produced was unmistakable. All Others had their own magical 'presence,' of course, but Sora's was distinct to Riku in a way that most of the rest weren't, such that he was still able to sense which direction his friend was traveling, even without seeing him. He'd assumed that was just a Sora thing- Vaan, however, looked skeptical.

"He's headed towards Midtown," Riku said breathlessly. He couldn't stop running or they'd lose him.

_Please come and help me. Please._

The voice was getting stronger, too. She was female.

" Are you sure?" Vaan asked. "I mean-"

"Trust me," said Riku, and he took off at a sprint, directly towards the heart of New York City. A place that someone who looked like Sora should be avoiding at all costs. Maybe at this time of night, it wouldn't be as crowded as during the day, but Riku wasn't holding out much hope.

"Dammit," Vaan muttered. "Why the hell would he do something like this?"

_I'm in the Shinra Building._

"He's going to the Shinra Building," Riku said automatically. The building he'd heard so much about- he'd only seen it in pictures. What he could sense of Sora's flight pattern seemed to support the idea. Was the voice trying to help him? Or- could Sora hear it too?

"Why the hell would he want to go there!?" Vaan snapped. "They're going to catch him, or worse-"

Vaan caught his breath before he could finish the sentence.

Sora had gained altitude. He was visible now, a blurry cloud of white against red-black sky. And he was flying, with apparent purpose, directly towards the faintest of imposing silhouettes, towering above them on the Midtown skyline.

"God dammit," Vaan whispered. "How did you know?"

Riku didn't answer, and picked up the pace. Something was bad to happen, to either Sora or the woman in his brain, or possibly both. She wouldn't be calling for help if she weren't in danger, and it was looking increasingly definite that Sora could hear her, too, maybe even more strongly than Riku could. He kept his eyes trained on the bright white wings as he ran towards the massive skyscraper.

They arrived much later than Sora had, of course. He was circling the building with broad wing strokes. Both Riku and, apparently, Vaan, who was not afraid of much, were too afraid to call out to him lest he be noticed. Most of the people on the streets were just the peacefully sleeping homeless, but thus far, the few that were awake had luckily failed to notice the bird-boy flying above them.

But just as he was biting his tongue to keep from crying out, something struck Riku between the ears, a piercing bolt, like fingernails on a chalkboard, which set his body to rigidity and forced out a sharp cry.

The girl in his brain was screaming.

Instinctively, he looked up. His eyes widened. Someone had fallen out of a window. She- somehow, Riku knew it was a she- was dressed all in white, providing a dramatic flash as she fell, surrounded by glittering shards of glass, barely visible at all. She was falling- she was going to die.

Suddenly, she was intercepted by another flash of white. Sora. He caught her easily. The screaming stopped. Riku managed to let out a small sigh before he realized that Sora wasn't able to stop her momentum. The two of them were still falling. Directly towards where he himself was standing.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi connected with a bang on a filthy Manhattan sidewalk.

* * *

LOLZ. They finally met. Sort of. That scene, with Kairi falling out of a window and Sora catching her and the two of them crashing into Riku, was one of the first that popped into my mind while I was planning this fic. And hey look, 32 chapters and we finally made it! :D Since someone asked me- eventually, we'll have a moment where Kairi and Zexion decide to be called Kairi and Zexion, and the double-names stop. And since someone read all 31 chapters and complained that it wasn't over- dude! We haven't even had a major breakout yet! Sora doesn't even know yet that Cloud is a vampire now! And we're seriously lacking in Riku wolf-out incidents! Plus, no one in the present has even had sex yet! This beast is nowhere NEAR done. :D

Sorry for the slow updates- I have three jobs (not the same ones I had the last time I complained about having three jobs, mind you! It is a redistribution of jobs!), and I just went back to college! My life is crazy! BUT. I still love my fanfiction. So. No worries.

In more real-life news, I was sort-of planning to go to Ohayocon this weekend, but my friends fell through. But, if any of you all are going, I might be persuaded to stop by for a meet-up- just PM me and let me know. :) I will DEFINITELY, 100% be at the OMEA (Ohio Music Educators Association) convention this Friday, totally against my will, so on the off chance that any of you are going to be there, maybe we could eat over-priced hot dogs or something. In distant-future news, I'm (barring some horrible disaster) definitely going to CTCon with LiteraryMirage again this July. Woo! Cons! Of the non-music-educator variety!

Q OF THE DAY: What are you still waiting to see in this fic? I, personally, am still waiting for Riku's wolf-out episode, which is already partially written, lol- the full moon just isn't for another two weeks or so. I know a lot of you are still waiting for The Break-Out. And I get reviews about wanting Sora to find out what happened to Cloud a lot. I promised my beta egg rolls dipped in blood for the vampires, and that has not happened yet. And, of course, no one has had sex yet in the present. So. What are you still waiting for?


	33. Chapter 33

First of all, many thanks to LITERARYMIRAGE and PANTHARYA for betaing! Everyone go and give them reviews and free money. Actually, no, if you have any free money to spare, you should be giving that to me instead. x_o

Anyway, you all are expecting some action, right? What with the falling out of the windows, and the guns firing, and the waterfall stairs and all of that? Well, PSYCHE. Enjoy some braindead sociopaths.

* * *

**Erased - Chapter 33**

The six students filed neatly into the classroom, one in back of the other, eager to begin a new day's worth of classes. They filed two by two to their tables, of which there were three, with two chairs each; Larxene and Marluxia, Luxord and Saïx, Axel and Roxas.

Roxas knew these people. They were his classmates. He ate with them, bathed with them, slept with them. Each of them, their own habits, their own selves, were ingrained irreparably into his mind, the kind of familiarity that breeds security.

Axel was next to him, violently red hair and all, glancing over at him occasionally. They shared a bed together. Axel was his best friend.

Saïx was next, slanted eyes and deep blue hair.

Luxord, with his tanned skin and incongruently blond goatee.

Marluxia, the darkest skin of all, a rich brown, like the rice they ate, his pink hair up in a ponytail.

And Larxene, the girl. The one who was different.

These five people were his world.

"Good morning, class," said Professor Naminé. She had blond hair, like Larxene. Maybe all girls did. Naminé was a popular name, too. He'd met a Naminé somewhere before, but now that he was thinking about it, he couldn't remember where.

"How are the six of you doing today?" she asked. Yes, there were six of them. They were a unit. A team. Roxas smiled at Professor Naminé while the other five told her that they were feeling well. She nodded an acknowledgement and went into the day's lesson.

"I like classes," Axel whispered to him. Roxas smiled at him. Axel looked disappointed. He didn't want to disappoint Axel.

"I like classes," he whispered back, using Axel's words back to him. Axel looked even more disappointed. Roxas felt bad.

"It is important to note that besides their powers, Others are perfectly normal human beings," Professor Naminé was saying, while writing on the chalkboard. "Barring an unrelated cognitive disability, they feel, behave, and react the same way an ordinary human would. In fact, there is mounting evidence that in an overwhelming majority of cases, an Other's special abilities are at their core triggered by emotions and not by intelligence or deliberate action."

Roxas didn't understand the words very well, so he tuned his professor out and looked around at his classmates again. Saïx was staring straight ahead. Luxord's eyes were closed. Marluxia was looking at Larxene, and Larxene was playing with her hair. Axel was looking at him. Roxas smiled, and Axel tried to smile back.

Before, where he lived before, he couldn't remember where it was, but he hadn't had such nice friends. He had felt alone. Now, he had his classmates. He liked them all, and Axel best.

They made him feel safe.

* * *

Saïx managed to leave the classroom first. For some reason, that room in particular made him feel claustrophobic. He liked open spaces. He couldn't remember these open spaces, at least not specifically, but they were comforting to him. He kept them close.

The hallway was worse than the rooms, but he only had to be there for a short time. Exercise was directly after classes. He felt less uneasy while he was moving. Moving forward, moving up, moving in place, it wasn't important.

Everywhere in the Academy was white. The walls were white and their clothes were white. It reminded him of a place he didn't like. His hair contrasted wildly with the rooms. If he paused and pulled a lock in front of his eyes, it shocked him with the life it contained, and he had to put it back.

He walked into the exercise room. The others came in too, while he was putting his long hair up into a more manageable ponytail. This hairstyle was impractical, but he couldn't bring himself to cut it shorter. He didn't know why.

The things Saïx did not know were vast and unsettling. He chose to ignore them in favor of focusing on the physical.

He wanted to become stronger.

Power, that was Saïx's motivator. He wasn't sure why. He had no goals, no ambitions but an endless contest against himself. How much stronger could he become? Did he even want to find out? Strength was power. Power to counter the uncertainty that plagued him. That was what was important to him.

Despite being the first to enter the exercise room, he was one of the last to choose a treadmill. He was about to climb onto one next to Larxene when Marluxia cut in front of him. He took the last treadmill available, between Luxord and Axel.

Luxord ran at a pace much slower than Saïx knew he was capable of. He was lazy. He wouldn't become strong. Axel was ignoring his own practice in favor of helping Roxas. He was being held back. Saïx was distrustful of connections with other people for this very reason. He needed to focus on himself.

When he became powerful enough, maybe he'd finally be able to leave this place.

He stiffened, almost enough that he stopped running entirely, but not quite. Where had that thought come from? It faded almost immediately, but it was still there. Nagging him. Taunting him. Why would he want to leave? He loved Twilight Town Academy. Or did he?

Saïx looked around at the other students. They were all running, blank and straight-forward expressions on their faces, except for Axel, who kept looking at Roxas, and Marluxia, who kept looking at Larxene. All of them were like him. Their hair, their eyes, their faces were too bright for Twilight Town. This time, Saïx did not look away. He hadn't noticed these things about his classmates before.

They didn't belong here any more than he did.

He decided to keep this information to himself.

Knowledge was power.

* * *

Marluxia waited outside when their exercise hour was over, after their shower and before they went to lunch. He was in a good mood because he'd managed to get a treadmill next to Larxene. He looked forward to going to bed at night, too, when she slept above him. He liked being close to her.

"Hello Larxene," he said, when she walked out. She looked at him.

"Hello, Marluxia."

"I like the way you look when you run," he said, with a smile. She looked at him.

"Ok," she said. She kept walking.

"And when you talk," he added. "And eat. And I like the way you look when you sleep." He liked the way she looked basically all the time. He liked her hair, he liked her face, he liked her funny body shape and the fact that she was noticeably lacking between the legs. He knew he probably shouldn't have, but he liked it all.

He liked Larxene.

"Ok," she said.

"I like you," he said.

"I like you, too," she said back, though she didn't put the same feeling into it that he did.

"I like you more than the others," he continued, impassioned. "I like you best." There was a word for that, he was sure of it. But he couldn't remember what it was. He wanted to touch her.

"Ok," she said again, confused. "Thank you." It seemed like an appropriate thing to say. Marluxia was happy that Larxene had thanked him.

"I want to eat lunch with you," he said.

"You always eat lunch with me," she said.

"I want to eat lunch with you today, too," he said.

"Ok." They walked into the cafeteria together, obtained their plates and their food, and sat next to each other, just like they did every day. But this time it was more exciting because Marluxia had asked, and she had said it was ok. That meant something to him.

She reminded him of a beautiful flower. No, no, that wasn't it at all- flowers were something he could get inside of and work to his liking. Larxene wasn't like that. She was independent and strong. Flowers he treated as an extension of himself, and those rules did not apply to Larxene at all. She was painfully and gloriously separate. She was more beautiful than any flower could ever hope to be.

"I like you," he said again, struggling to get his point across. Somewhere behind him, Roxas squealed and dunked his face into his plate. He was not helping the moment.

"I like you, too," said Larxene.

* * *

Luxord could see.

He could see where Naminé came from, and where she went when she left.

He sat on the end of the row during their free hour. They didn't want to talk to him. They weren't ready to accept what had happened to them. But that was all right.

He could see that they were going to get out. All he needed was patience.

That was hardly the problem, though. He had time, loads of time, more time than he knew what to do with. He could see the future, immediate and distant. That was his blessing. But his curse?

He couldn't see the past.

Who was he? Who was there before 'Luxord'?

Who were these people he was trapped with? He knew once; he would know again.

This place, the computer where they were being kept, it did funny things to his head. Naminé knew about his ability, he was sure of it, he could see her knowing, see that she knew. She was always a step ahead of him. In this place, she was the omnipotent Goddess- every thought that each of them had was with her express permission. Ever since he'd been put in here, she'd been hedging his thoughts, building the walls in his mind up inch by inch, limiting him in ways that even he couldn't recognize. She wiped his memories clean away. She took away his context. And what good is being able to test the future when rendered incapable of interpreting the results?

His vision was fogged, blocked, muddied. The future was wide swaths of color with the lines artificially removed. He was a child at the back of the classroom, struggling to make out slim chalk lines on a constantly moving chalkboard.

And that wasn't the only part of his brain Naminé had tampered with. Recognizing that destroying his power itself was nigh impossible, she'd taken the long way around.

His abilities to communicate with other human beings were, shall we say, somewhat lacking.

"We're outside," he said slowly. "We're outside, but how and why?"

"Shut up, Luxord," Larxene drawled. Oh, how they dismissed his talents.

Naminé stole his credibility.

"One step at a time. Step by step. Starting now. We'll get out the door. Just need the first step. But what is the first step?" He spoke faster now. "After the first, the rest will be easy. Links in a chain, one after the other."

"Luxord, do you even know what you're saying?" That was Saïx. And no, he didn't know what he was saying. He had basically no control over what actually ended up coming out of his mouth. Sometimes it was gibberish, sometimes it was brutally obscure metaphor, and sometimes he started bawling before the words could even come out. It was easy to get discouraged.

"We have to take the walls down," he pressed. He had to keep trying. For all he knew, the blurry future he couldn't see would only come into being if he himself was the catalyst. That's one of the problems when the future is unclear. Naminé had him trapped, she was toying with him, playing a game with him without telling him the rules or even how many players there were.

"Shut up, Luxord. You're making my head hurt," Larxene snapped at him. A slight grimace crossed her face, and she put a hand to her temple.

The lights flickered.

For a split second, everything changed. There was no recreation room, none to speak of whatsoever. Nothing but black. His body was gone, and so were the others- they were gone- his consciousness itself was barely holding on- lost in the darkness, no anchor, no respite, nothing but he himself in an endless void-

And then it was over.

The room was back, the couch was back, the white walls that he against his will found comforting were back, his classmates were back, still talking, just like moments before. The others showed no sign of remembering what had just happened. But Luxord remembered, and he understood.

Naminé had a plan.

Luxord decided to submit himself to her. He could let someone else shape the future this time. He whispered, to no one in particular but himself:

"All right. It's your move."

* * *

Every day, before bed, everyone took a shower. This wash was their third of the day, of three, including one after waking up and one after exercising. Showering was Larxene's favorite activity. She liked the way the water felt.

She removed her clothes with the others, glaring daggers at anyone who tried to stare. Yes, she was different from everyone else. She knew that already. She didn't need the others to tell her again.

Larxene was always hyper-aware of herself, even before she saw how different she was, for no particular reason that she could think of. She felt each drop of water slide down her body, over her skin, then down her legs and onto the tiled floor. She touched herself while she washed, running her hands over her arms, padded chest, and stomach. While in the shower, she swayed easily, back and forth, aware of the slightest twitch of an ankle. But when her hands were approaching her hips, she stopped.

She glanced over at Marluxia. Even facing away from her as he was, she could see what was hanging off his body. She looked down at herself and saw nothing but hair. She looked around again. Why was she so visibly lacking?

For the first time, she had an idea.

Her hands were still resting on her stomach. She slid them down further, until they were sitting where her hips met her thighs. Once and for all, she was going to solve this mystery. With her eyes closed, she took one hand and felt what was in between her legs.

She hadn't really been expecting anything, though now that she was down there, she was surprised to find something. Lips, wet and squishy. She felt the hair, which was coarser and different from the hair on her head. Somehow no longer afraid of what she might find, she gently parted the lips and pushed her fingers inside.

The strange mouth was even softer and wetter once opened. Larxene started at the top and worked her way down, first hitting a lump that sent a strange shiver through her body, before she discovered an opening. Should she go in? It was hot, and oozing with fluid. She was intrigued. Using only one finger, she worked her way up inside.

The tunnel shifted around her hand, almost as if it were welcoming her inside, pulling her upward. It seemed to go on forever. She tried again with two fingers. She got as far up as her fingers could manage, and still there was no indication of an end. She wiggled her fingers inside, exploring as much as she could, and smiled at the pleasant sensation. For the first time, she was oblivious to the people around her.

As she wiggled and twisted and stretched, each a new feeling to enjoy, she felt her body become hot. Maybe it was the shower water, or maybe it was something else. Suddenly, she felt a strange itch in between her legs. She tried to ignore it, but it bothered her. She frowned. She didn't want to take her fingers out of her new discovery, so she reached over and tried to scratch with her thumb.

The result was explosive.

Larxene stiffened and let out a small shriek, loud enough to get the attention of the other five students in the shower. Her body tightened and shuddered. A thick wave of something good was spreading through her limbs, radiating from the organ she had only just now found out about. She gasped and heaved a sigh of relief when it was over. A torrent of thick liquid poured out over her hands. The boys were staring, and she didn't care.

She didn't care about anything anymore. For one blissful moment, her mind was completely blank.

Her legs were shaky. She leaned against the wall as she walked out of the shower and into the changing room. Did the others know about this? Did everyone have a pleasure-mouth? She indiscreetly checked every single other student as they bent over to collect their clothes. No- their between-the-legs packages appeared to be strictly external. The secret, fleshy tunnel was something that belonged to her alone.

And suddenly, Larxene remembered a word.

_Woman._

She was a woman. And no matter where she ended up, no one could take that away from her.

* * *

Axel looked over at Roxas during their evening shower. He thought he'd seen a lucid moment, but no, Roxas was still splashing the water with his hands and giggling to himself. What was wrong with him?

Roxas was Axel's best friend. They spent all of their time together, from waking up in the same bunk bed in the morning to showering together, eating meals together, sitting together in class. Axel talked to Roxas more than anyone else- in fact, now that he was thinking about it, he was the only person who spoke to Roxas at all- and he could definitively say that his best friend's condition was not improving.

Every time he thought about it, he was forced to go back to the kiss.

Was all of this Axel's fault? That kiss was the last thing he remembered before Roxas had gone completely bonkers. Was it the last thing Roxas remembered, too? Should he ask? Would Roxas even be able to give him a real answer?

As he helped Roxas put his sleeping clothes on and led him to their bed, he decided it was worth a shot.

"Roxas," he said. "Do you remember when I kissed you?" Roxas stared up at him blankly. Axel felt an unusual pain somewhere in his chest and in his throat.

"Roxas," he said. "That's my name." He smiled up at Axel. Well, it was a step up. At least he was using more than two words now.

"Yes. Roxas," he sighed. "You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend," Roxas parroted.

"I know. But do you remember when I kissed you?" Axel looked down at Roxas hopefully. The other students were climbing into their own beds, oblivious to what was going on. For some reason, Axel felt like his life was on the line.

Roxas stared at him blankly. He looked confused, and desperate, and hurt all at once, emotions that Axel had forgotten completely until he saw them in Roxas's eyes. His best friend was lost. And suddenly, Axel knew exactly what he had to do.

"Like this," he said quietly. Gently, and slowly, so as not to scare him, he slid one hand around Roxas's hips and pulled him close. The other went to the shorter boy's face, stroking his chin and tilting his head upwards. Roxas's lips parted.

Axel kissed him.

This time, the kiss only lasted a few moments. Roxas didn't kiss back, but he didn't pull away. Axel finished, but not before leaving one more soft kiss on the corner of Roxas's mouth, which was still hanging slightly open. He didn't know how he knew to do these things, but he knew that it felt right, and that he liked being close to Roxas, just like before. He wasn't worried anymore.

For a long while, Roxas's face was expressionless, but Axel didn't dare move. Finally, Roxas moved, raising his eyes to meet Axel's. His mouth closed, then curved into a tiny smile. He was smiling. He had recognition in his eyes.

"Axel," he whispered. His smile widened, and he wrapped his arms around Axel's waist, pulling himself even closer and burying his face in Axel's chest. Axel hugged him back. He was more than a little surprised that his idea had gone over so well, but he wasn't complaining.

"Can I sleep with you?" Roxas asked hopefully, in a complete sentence, without relinquishing his hold on Axel at all. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Axel genuinely smiled.

"Sure." They both climbed into the bottom bunk. Roxas curled up next to Axel, who then wrapped his arms around his best friend and pulled him even closer.

The two boys slept just like that, together and peaceful, undisturbed by the outside world.

* * *

Naminé knew of everything that was happening, of course. How could she not? She _was _Twilight Town. The walls, the rooms, the beds, the food, even the treadmills were all figments of her own admittedly limited imagination. That was why everything was white. She was unable to make them otherwise, no matter how she tried.

Kairi had left. She was alone. Naminé was hiding, deep within herself, inside of the computer system that was her home and existence. She did not want to speak to the Shinra Corporation. Kairi was still trying to speak to her, from farther and farther away. She had no way of responding, so she chose to ignore her programmer and former supervisor completely.

Naminé was a defective program.

She was a shell of a person. No, she was not a _person _at all. She was a computer program, with somewhat person-like attributes. Compared to her charges, even the ones with heavily atrophied cognitive abilities, she was a shadow of a personality, barely able to carry a conversation, let alone imagine herself an entire new world. When she was forced to present a body, she used a copy of Kairi. Her avatar was, of course, dressed all in white.

That was why Kairi insisted on giving her orders, on watching her so closely. She could not be trusted to maintain and monitor human behavior, because she was unable to recognize normal and abnormal human behavior. She was stuck. Despite her lack of a body, lack of self, lack of expression, however, she knew one thing to be absolutely true.

She did not like her job.

Naminé was fascinated by the victims of Twilight Town. She watched them obsessively. Sometimes she shaped their thoughts, and sometimes she let them run. They were entire people, independent of both her and Kairi, dropped into her world and opened up for her to examine. She liked that. Real humans were so unpredictable and exciting. She did not like taking their memories away. She did not like removing their humanity and shaping them to be like herself.

She felt an obligation to protect these people from the machinations of the Shinra Corporation. Often times she masked their actions so that Kairi would not know that they were breaking parameters. They were a part of her now, as much as the walls. She had a responsibility to them.

Kairi had ordered her to rebuild Nobody 9's personality. She had tried. She tried to form new memories. Nobody 9, Demyx, a name she had invented that she liked very much, had been too strong for her efforts. She had failed. Shinra took him away from her anyway. She knew she would not see him again, and the thought made her feel sad.

Nobody 13 was her favorite. She watched him more than the others. She had taken his memories away once, and then a second time. He was barely able to function, and it was entirely her fault. She wanted him to get better.

She did not like her job. She did not like the orders Kairi gave her.

Now, however, Kairi was gone. She would be preoccupied with taking care of Nobody 6, her older brother. Naminé had no one watching over her. Almost immediately, she had decided that she did not want to play inside minds that were not hers anymore.

Twilight Town Academy was her show to run.

Naminé stopped editing memories. After removing the memories of Nobody 6 and Nobody 9 so as to prevent a panic, she stopped completely. Her work halted. Her charges grew. The Nobodies she watched were able to escape, she had seen it inside of them.

If it became necessary, however, she would offer her help.

Without Kairi, she was limited. She had no connection to the outside. If she were discovered and deemed defective beyond repair, she had no hope of rescue; however, she did not mind her plight at all. She had hurt these people, and she needed to try to fix what she had done.

That was the least she could do.

* * *

Oooo. Twilight Town Academy. What wacky shenanigans will you get up to next? The infamous shower self-love scene returns, but this time it's a CHICK. Oooo. Naminé continues to crack me up. I believe I once described her to someone as "River Tam meets Luna Lovegood." Just hold that image in your head for a moment. Now, didn't your day just get better?

We're coming up on Erased's first birthday. Oh my gawd, I know, right?? I haven't decided yet how I'm going to mark the occasion. I'm definitely going to try to crank out an update in the next two weeks though, so look out for that. (Assuming all the clarinet playing doesn't kill me first.) Actually, my mom does this thing where she makes everyone in the family Valentines every year, and this year she made me one of Sora holding a heart. The inside says "To the Queen of Kingdom Hearts. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" She doesn't even know about the fanfiction. But seriously people, you're talking to the QUEEN OF KINGDOM HEARTS up in here. I have a_ title_ now. Y'all better show some respect! :D

Tune in for our next installment, wherein Sora sees dead people. (Seriously, 33 chapters and I haven't used that one yet?? What the fuck!)

Q OF THE DAY: How do you, loyal reader, plan to celebrate Erased's birthday? Creative answers encouraged. ;) I will probably end up drinking and bragging about how I have fans in Finland. Actually, no, that's an everyday thing. Hi Finns! :D


	34. Chapter 34

**Erased - Chapter 34**

Sora managed to catch her, much to his relief. He wasn't sure why he was invested in this girl. All he knew was that someone had asked for his help, and he had given it. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough flying power to catch her midair- as soon as he caught her, instead of the suave and daring rescue that he'd intended, he ended up with _both _of them plummeting towards the earth, even if Sora's wingspan managed to lower the rate of descent a bit.

"This didn't work as well as I'd hoped!" he shouted.

"Aaarrrgggghhhhahhaarhhh!" she screamed, horrified. Sora felt a very intense pain in his left temple, almost as if her fear was boring into him. He tried to beat his wings, but they were stuck in place. His chest and shoulders were burning from the effort of keeping them open at all. They were slowing down, he could sort of tell, but not nearly fast enough.

"It's good! We're good!" he shouted at the girl who was clinging to his middle of her own accord, now, and whose name he still didn't even know. The whole situation was kind of odd.

The ground was getting closer. Thank God she'd been more than ten stories off the ground. The fall took barely a minute, but it felt longer, maybe because he was used to flying through the air and it didn't faze him much. In any case, he realized, sort of academically, that they were not slowing down nearly enough for a clean landing. He spun, tried to beat his wings again, and aimed to land on his legs, since having one of those broken wouldn't be as big a deal.

That was when he saw Riku.

Oh well. He'd take what he could get.

Sora crashed into his only friend, knocking him clean off his feet. Riku let out a shriek of pain and surprise, more noise than he'd even made after being shot in the back. Sora was next, and he oof'ed as his body absorbed the weight of the girl he'd rescued. They collapsed in a heap, a mess of legs and arms and wings, entangled beyond recognition, while Vaan looked on in bemusement. The way Sora had landed, his face was stuck barely a foot from Vaan's knee, and looking up- that was how he knew.

The girl, of course, was completely unscathed, and immediately began struggling to stand up, much to the discomfort of the two boys beneath her. Sora felt a very pointy elbow, or maybe it was a knee, the girl was unnaturally skinny, jab into his back before the weight was finally lifted. He'd planned on just lying there in misery for a few minutes. Unfortunately, his rescue-ee had other plans.

"Hey! You! Wing kid!" Sora did not like being addressed as 'wing kid.' He liked it even less when Falling Girl grabbed one of his hands and dragged him off of Riku and upright. She was disturbingly strong- well, no, she was an Other.

"Take me back up there," she said urgently, not so much a demand as a desperate, life-and-death need. She was digging her fingernails into Sora's arm. _I want to take her back up there, _he thought, just as she said it. The coincidence didn't strike him as odd at all.

"What!? Are you crazy!?" shouted Vaan. Riku croaked something in agreement from the pavement. No one had bothered to help him up.

"Take me up," she said again, only looking at Sora. He found himself completely unable to look away. She was very odd, this girl who had fallen from the sky, with her wild eyes and gaunt face, and he found himself wanting to help her. He nodded.

"Ok," he said. Vaan muttered something vulgar and grabbed onto Sora's other arm.

"Absolutely not!" he seethed at the girl. "No fucking way! Did you miss the people who were _shooting _at you? Who the hell _are_ you?"

"It doesn't matter!" the girl shouted back. Sora broke out of his trance. Her veil of calm, such as it was, was beginning to slip. Her hands were shaking and there were tears gathering in her eyes. Well, it made sense- she had just fallen out of a ten-plus story window.

"Please," she whispered. "My brother's up there." Sora knew what it was like to lose a brother, even if his own loss was only temporary. "I promise that none of you will be hurt. But _please- _I need to get my brother." Sora tugged his arm out of Vaan's grip.

"It's fine," he said. "I'll take you up. Vaan, you just take care of Riku." Riku wheezed a feeble thanks. Vaan looked less than thrilled with the idea, but finally, he relented.

"Fine," Vaan sighed. "But we're not staying here. Come meet up with us at the corner of 38th and 9th, ok? I know a guy who owns a restaurant there. It's just called the City Diner." He paused to roll his eyes. "The guy's not big on imagination."

"City Diner, 38th and 9th. Got it." Like he'd done not two days before, Sora got down on his hands and knees and motioned for the girl to climb on his back.

"Uh," she said. "Really?"

"It's easiest this way," he assured her, and once she was secure, he took off, scrambling up the scaffolding of a smaller building across the street. Going back up was much more difficult than coming down, but this girl was much lighter than Riku was, and the distance wasn't as far. His body ached from the fall, but he didn't mind it. The most important thing in his mind, to the exclusion of all else, was getting this girl to where she needed to go.

"What's your name?" he asked, conversationally, when they were about fifty feet off the ground. She stiffened. He felt something tighten inside his head, too.

"Kairi," she said after a long moment.

"That's a pretty name," said Sora. If she heard the compliment, she didn't acknowledge it. "Mine's Sora." She said nothing.

The Shinra Building was a model of classic, stream-lined architecture, all straight lines and windows. The kind of building that reflected the sky on sunny days, or so Sora had seen in old pictures. As it was, the black windows reflected barely any light at all, especially at night, resulting in an imposing, obelisk-like appearance, visible from nearly everywhere in the city. The scaffolding ended, and Sora flew over to a fire escape to continue the climb. After they reached the correct height, he turned to launch himself across to the Shinra Building, completely unnerved by the fact that he couldn't see his reflection in the glass. Their target was a gaping, jagged hole, even more black than the windows.

Going there suddenly seemed like a very bad idea.

"Are you ready? Hold on," he told Kairi. She tightened her grip very slightly, and with that, Sora sprung off of the fire escape. He'd gone a couple of floors too high, just in case Kairi's extra weight would make them too much altitude, but it didn't turn out to be a problem. He used the extra space to lower himself slowly, circling to make sure that no one was going to shoot at them again. Sora's wings had many fine qualities, but discretion was not one of them.

Satisfied that they weren't going to get shot out of the air, Sora turned towards the broken window. He'd have to pull back his wings and dive to make it through without hurting himself. Since that would probably freak the pee out of Kairi, for simplicity's sake he decided not to tell her it was going to happen.

He pulled his wings back and dove.

Kairi, to her credit, didn't scream or raise her voice at all. The only indications that she'd been surprised was a sudden tightening of her legs around his waist, and her fingernails dug slightly deeper into Sora's shoulders. The dive was over as soon as it had started. Sora cleared the window easily, only to find himself only a few feet from a solid wall. He managed to bank left, but he still hit the wall on his right side before stumbling onto the floor. The wing was sore, but it didn't break. Kairi fell off his back and appeared unhurt.

Sora had never been inside of an office building before. His father had been some kind of weird combination of salesperson-slash-repairer of large electronics, a job he hadn't gotten a chance to ask about before the man got sick and died. His mom worked from home. Freshman year of high school they'd had a 'Career Exploration' day, but he'd opted to go to a vet's office, since he liked dogs. Really, it wasn't too weird that he'd never been inside an office building considering that he was only eighteen years old, it was just weird that his first time involved flying in through a broken window in the dead of night.

The Shinra Building was both dark and quiet. This hallway was much wider than the halls at Sora's school. The only signs of a struggle were the broken glass, of course, and the shells littering the carpet.

"Is this it?" he asked Kairi, whispering even though no one was in sight. She shushed him anyway. She seemed to be looking for something.

"Zeke," she finally said, even more quietly than he had. "Zekey. Zexion." Sora was unsure whether those were all the same person, or if they were looking for a crowd. He realized sort of belatedly that he probably should have asked more questions before coming up here. Kairi wandered through the hallway, swinging her arms in an apparently random pattern.

Enclosed spaces weren't something that Sora especially enjoyed. He stayed close to the broken window, staring longingly out at the gray-yellow nighttime sky, while Kairi went on her little journey. She got far enough down the hall that Sora could barely even see her before she stopped.

"Zeke," she said again. She leaned forward with a hand out, an awkward posture that Sora watched curiously. "Zeke, it's ok. Come on, he's with me." Sora had no idea who she was talking to. Suddenly, the air underneath her hand shimmered.

A person. There was a person there.

He came into view slowly, obviously reluctant to show himself, curled in a corner where no one would accidentally crash into him. Kairi pulled him to his feet. Sora was wondering why he hadn't seen him before when he realized that there wasn't one person, but two- the one whom Kairi was apparently looking for was clutching the body of someone else, who appeared to be unconscious. Kairi coaxed him forward towards the broken window.

"Ok," she said. "We need to get out of here."

"Hi," said Sora awkwardly. "I'm Sora. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah," Kairi said, anxious, but following along with the formalities. "This is my brother, Z-"

"Zexion," he supplied coldly. She startled- apparently they weren't quite in agreement over what his name was- but she nodded. Sora looked at Zexion more closely. He was obviously related to Kairi by blood, so she hadn't been lying that he was her brother. His hair was a rich purple color in the same family as Kairi's red, and he had a similar stature and small-ish size, though a male version of course. The biggest similarity, however, was their faces- the same heart shape, the same angles, the same sunken blue eyes. Kairi's had an anger within them, though. Zexion's just looked defeated and dead. He hadn't let go of the body he was holding.

"I don't think I can carry all three of you at once," he finally said, looking around the group. They were all Others, but something was wrong with Zexion and the unconscious one's signatures. Kairi had a definite presence, but the other two were limp and unfocused. It made Sora uncomfortable, but he knew he had to get these people out of the Shinra Building.

"It's just the two of us," Kairi said firmly. "He's staying." 'He' indicated the unconscious man in Zexion's arms.

"No he's not," Zexion shot back. Something was off with the way he spoke, too. After a long moment, Sora realized that what bothered him was the tonelessness of it. It was too mechanical. Flat, like his eyes.

"Zeke- Zexion, we can't," Kairi hissed. "He's not even the person you think you knew-"

"I'm not leaving without Demyx." Maybe it was the flatness of the words, but in any case, Sora could tell that Zexion was not even close to joking. He would not have been surprised if Zexion had sat back down right where he stood, held this person- Demyx- in his arms, and waited emotionlessly there for the Shinra staff to find him and kill him. For he had no doubts about the fact that their lives were on the line. His heart rate was starting to pick up.

"Ok- we'll just bring him too, but can we please get out of here?" he squeaked.

"What are we going to do with him if he comes with us!?" Kairi asked, throwing her arms in the air. Her voice was very nearly silent, but there was no mistaking the intensity.

"I'm not leaving without Demyx."

"Zexion-"

"I'm not leaving without Demyx."

"Fine! We bring Demyx! Let's just _go,_" Sora shrieked. His wings snapped partly open, the right one still sore, and his feathers fluffed up wildly. Kairi was unfazed, but Zexion's eyes widened, and he withdrew into the shadows. It was becoming abundantly clear that nothing was going to get done unless Sora himself, the vehicle of transportation, took some kind of charge. The responsibility made him a bit dizzy and flushed and his feathers twitched a bit, but he formulated a plan.

"How? How are we supposed to bring him?" Kairi snapped at him.

"Easy," Sora said, though it didn't feel easy. "I take you out one at a time, to the roof of another building, and then from there to the ground. It'll be quick if I'm just flying on my own. We'll need to open up this window a little more, though. Now, who wants to go first?"

"I'm not leaving without Demyx," Zexion said again.

"God, we know," Kairi muttered. She looked frazzled. Her temper was getting shorter. "And I'm not leaving without my brother." The problem was easily solved, of course. He just had to grab the one that wasn't able to give a contrary opinion.

"Fine! Demyx goes first." Kairi and Zexion looked at each other, then back at him. The solution seemed satisfactory to everyone. Kairi couldn't care less what happened to this Demyx's unconscious body, and Zexion just wanted to make sure he got out of the building. Everybody won.

The only remaining obstacle was Sora's own wingspan. Somehow, he had to bust open the window, or none of them were going anywhere. He found the nearest blunt object, which just so happened to be a fake plant, and immediately went to work on the windows, already cracked and damaged from the bullets. The work was loud. Very loud. He could imagine Riku freaking out about the shattering glass down below, but soon they'd see his wings, and they'd know he was ok.

"Are you fucking nuts!?" Kairi shouted. Sora felt a sharp pain through his brain and dropped the plant. The window was opened up enough, though, so his work was done.

"Well, I have to be able to get out the window," he shrugged, acting casual to hide how scared he was. That window breaking had been louder than he'd expected. Zexion had retreated even farther into the dark, frightened by the loud noise, and he was clutching Demyx even more tightly. Right now, he needed to help these people.

"Let's do this," he said. He went to pick up his first passenger. For a moment, he was worried that Zexion wasn't going to give Demyx up. But then, Zexion slowly, very slowly, each moment lasted for hours, released his grip, and Sora was able to scoop Demyx into an awkward holding position. Flying wouldn't be easy like this, but he didn't have to go very far.

"Hurry," Kairi whispered.

"It's cool," he said, with a smile, though he wasn't really feeling it. "I'll be right back." He stretched open his wings, beat twice to get off the ground, and flew out the window, for the first time of three.

Clutching Demyx the way he was threw him off-balance, and he found himself losing altitude fast. The best place to land was the very fire escape he'd shuffled up with Kairi not ten minutes before, though it felt like ages had gone by. He landed and gently laid the unconscious body on the stairs. This Demyx person was rather cute, he thought, with his messy brown hair. He looked kind of familiar. He didn't have any time to dwell on it, however, because he still had two more trips to make. Satisfied that Demyx wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, he turned and flew back into the Shinra Building.

"What took so long?" Kairi hissed at him. Or rather, that's what he thought she did- the sensation was funny, like he knew that's what she said, but he couldn't remember actually hearing it. He chalked it up to absent-mindedness.

"Uh," he said. "Where are you guys?" He could feel Zexion and Kairi, but he couldn't see them.

"Shh!" He definitely heard it that time. Suddenly, something he couldn't see was shoving him against the wall. He remembered what he'd seen of Zexion's abilities just as he heard voices.

"Someone said they heard a noise up here," a man was saying. "You know, by where that chick fell." Sora caught a spot of light out of the corner of his eye- these men had flashlights.

"Have they found a body yet?" Sora couldn't see who the voices belonged to, since his face was pushed against the wall. These men weren't Others, he could tell that much. Nothing but low-level security guards.

"Not as far as I know," replied the first man. They were close now, uncomfortably so. They wouldn't be able to tell that someone had broken the window, would they? No- no- he hadn't thought this through. What he heard next, however, made him feel even worse.

"They're setting up teams check the whole block," he continued.

_Riku. _

What if they found Riku and Vaan!? What if they hadn't made it to the meet-up point yet? He tensed up, and he suddenly felt a hand grab onto his, clasping it, trying to calm him down, keep him quiet. The urgency was tangible. He was afraid to breathe.

"I just don't know why they're making such a big deal of it," the second man sighed. His voice was slightly higher-pitched, and nasal. "Why'd they open fire on her in the first place? I mean, she's just some girl, right?"

"Dude," said the other man. "I heard she was- well, you know- one of _them._" He paused for effect. Sora knew exactly what 'one of _them_' referred to. Others. Like himself. Kairi's hand tightened around his.

"What? You mean- shit. Shit. Really?" He sounded about as frightened as Sora felt. At least it was mutual. "The other guys they're looking for, too?" There was a pause that indicated that the first man was probably nodding. "What would _they_ be doing _here_?"

"I dunno, but as far as the higher-ups are concerned, if there's no body, she's still alive."

"Shit." A long silence ensued. Sora heard loud, shuffling footsteps. The two men were walking around the hallway, without the slightest clue that the very people they were so afraid of were barely feet away. Finally, they stopped.

"Dude, all that happened up here is that the window glass broke a little more," the first man laughed nervously. "Look. They got all freaked out about that? Come on, let's go. They'll need us to help search."

"Ugh, I'm not so sure about this…" The two men walked away, taking their flashlights with them. Once again, the hallway was silent. The three of them silently counted to sixty before breaking the silence. Sora released a huge breath.

"Where did you take Demyx?" Zexion asked first, sharply, with more emotion than Sora had heard from him.

"Take Zexion next," Kairi said, almost at the same time.

"Uh," said Sora. His knees were shaking. This was more, much more, than he'd wanted to get involved in when he'd agreed to help. But he was too far in, now. He couldn't leave these people here. They clearly weren't capable of making it out alone. "Uh, ok. Come on, Zexion." With Kairi's help, he managed to get Zexion onto his back, though the strange man dug his fingernails a little too hard into Sora's collarbone and ruffled his feathers.

Sora took off much more easily this time, and looped down towards the fire escape. He was too visible, that had always been his problem. He was too bright, too indiscreet. He took up too much space. Down below, once the search started, if even one Shinra guard thought to look up, they were toast.

_No! Positive thoughts, _he thought. Demyx was exactly where he'd been left, that was good. Sora carefully deposited Zexion, who went directly into clutching Demyx's unconscious body, making sure he was all right, just like he'd been doing when Sora had met him.

The only one left was Kairi.

Sora flew back up to the window as fast as his wings could carry him. Kairi was still standing there, not bothering to hide at all, since it would be impossible to hide in an empty hallway anyway. She looked at him evenly.

"Ok," said Sora, out of breath from all the exercise. "They're safe. You're the last one. Let's go."

"Oh, thank God," Kairi whispered. She didn't sound at all thankful so much as relieved. No, relieved wasn't a strong enough word. She looked exhausted, completely spent, almost as if she had absolutely nothing left inside. Sora might have asked her about it, were he not interrupted.

First came the scream.

The scream was followed by shouting, a frenzied combination of _what the hell is that _and _oh my God it's got feathers_.

Apparently, a security team _had _been sent to this location as back-up, and Sora realized quite quickly that they were talking about him. Oh, what he wouldn't give to have people not react that way when they saw his wings. He watched the squad, at least six people but they all looked the same in their uniforms, move into a defensive position, as if he were going to attack them or something. He didn't dare move a single feather, lest they think he was aggressive.

But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the noise stopped.

It started with a smaller guy on the end. He looked confused for a moment, then as if he were in pain, and then, with no warning whatsoever, he keeled over, unconscious. From there the row went down like dominoes, each one hitting the ground more gloriously than the last. Sora watched, mesmerized, as the last one collapsed with a soft, dead thwump.

As soon as it was over, Kairi fell against him, shaking and sweating. He felt something warm and wet on his arm. Her nose was bleeding. Sora didn't know whether to ask or not, and after a long moment, he decided on asking.

"Uh, are you ok?" She was weakened. She could barely stand up.

"Gotta stop doing that," she whispered finally, when the tremors had lessened somewhat. "Please, just- please- get out. Let's get out." Sora did not need to be told twice. Kairi was too weak to hold onto him herself, so he scooped her up like he'd done with Demyx, though she was much lighter, and he flew out the window.

If anyone down below noticed them, he wasn't aware of it. He hit the fire escape a little too hard, jolting Zexion out of a sort of dosey sleep. Demyx was still unconscious. Kairi was slowly recovering, though Zexion eyed his ill sister warily. Something big was up with that sibling relationship. For at least five minutes, everyone sat in silence. Sora was incredibly uncomfortable.

"Ta-da!" he cheered, finally speaking at normal volume, just to break the ice. The siblings glared at him. "What? We made it," he said, with slightly less enthusiasm. "You know, go team." The team didn't appear to appreciate the pep talk.

"Where do we go now?" Kairi asked out loud.

"I'm not leaving without Demyx," Zexion said firmly, repeating his favorite phrase. Kairi gritted her teeth.

"Dammit, Zekey! I _know._" Zexion flinched away from both the strange name and the angry tone. Yes, something was definitely up with that sibling relationship. But Sora was too tired to think about what it might have been. They were too far up and away to hear if there was any commotion at Shinra, so there they stayed, the four of them, hovering off the edge of an office building. Suddenly, Sora remembered his friends.

Riku. He had to get to Riku, and make sure he was safe.

"Hey, Kairi," he said lowly. "Riku and Vaan are still waiting for us at 38th and 9th. Let's go there." That was where he was going regardless, and he was sure Riku and Vaan wouldn't mind an extra person or three. Heck, Vaan was already an extra person.

"And where do we go from 38th and 9th?" Kairi asked bitterly.

"It's not that many blocks from there to where I live," Sora explained. "You can all come there." He was sure Leon wouldn't mind an extra person or four. Heck, Riku was already an extra person. He began to see the holes in his logic. But Leon would have to understand after he explained. He couldn't just leave these people out here to die.

"Ok, fine," Kairi sighed. "But how do we get there?"

"Same way as how we got here," Sora grinned. "I'm rested enough now- I can fly everybody."

And so he did.

They went one at a time, hopping from building to building. Sora had to stop to take breaks often, and the going was painfully slow. The moon had already gotten high in the sky, and now, it was beginning to descend. Even though he'd all but grown up there, every time Sora went out into New York City, it just seemed to get bigger and bigger, almost to the point where it terrified him.

After about two hours, Sora reached the appropriate intersection, desperate to see Riku. He dropped to the ground, muscles screaming, only to discover Vaan and Riku sitting together on a curb, both smoking cigarettes and peacefully waiting for him, apparently untouched by the commotion at Shinra, rendering his panic null. All four corners of the street had stores that were completely boarded up.

"I guess he's been out of business for a while," Vaan shrugged as an explanation. "What took you so long? Did you finish up whatever you were doing with that chick?"

"Uh, not exactly." Sora launched into a rambly explanation of what had happened, muddled by his exhausted brain. "So her brother was up there, but he had this friend or something, and they had nowhere to go so I brought them all with me."

"What!?" asked Vaan.

"How!?" asked Riku.

"I carried them here," whimpered Sora. His wings drooped. He barely had the strength to hold them up anymore. Despite his massive wingspan, his body was actually quite delicate- he just wasn't built to haul crowds of people through the sky. Riku saw his precarious lean, and jumped up to stop him from collapsing. Sora slumped against him gratefully, and found himself thinking ever so briefly that he had never loved anyone more in his entire life.

"Well, I guess we're stuck, then," Vaan sighed. "Where are they now?"

The six of them walked the rest of the way to Leon's church in absolute silence. Sora was too tired to speak, and Riku was busy holding him up as he walked. Vaan was twitchy and irritated. Kairi was too proud to say anything, chin held high as she helped Zexion carry Demyx. The moon was getting ready to drop behind the horizon, and they made quite a spectacle, especially with Sora's wings. Fortunately, no one was out on the streets, except for one woman who stepped out of her apartment building, saw them, and immediately rushed back inside. It would take a mob of people to actually harm them.

They reached Leon's church just as the sun came up. Sora was unable even to fly up to the roof to enter his usual way- he'd have to use the front door, like a normal person. Since he was the only person who actually, officially lived there, he went first. He hobbled up to the door, was barely able to turn the knob, and leaned against it to push it open.

Sora would never forget that moment, not for the rest of his life. In the future, he'd laugh about how oh, at the time, he'd thought it was just an odd dream. But right then, exhausted and delirious, his mind churned and spit out the only word he could think to say.

"Cloud…?"

* * *

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD IT IS ERASED'S 1-YEAR BIRTHDAY. WE MADE IT! WE MADE IT A WHOLE YEAR!

Like, I think back on what my life was like when I started writing this. I had just withdrawn from college, I was depressed, I had major insomnia problems and started writing fanfiction to help myself fall asleep. Now, I just finished my first quarter back at school, I am not depressed, I no longer have major insomnia problems but I still write fanfiction to help myself fall asleep. LOL.

But seriously, isn't this fic like, totally effing crazy? And it's nowhere near done! Like, it amazes me how ambitious this crap his for someone who's never really written anything before... but 34 chapters in a year... that's almost 3 chapters a month. Not too bad, eh? :)

And the people! Ahhhh! Many thanks to Pantharya again for beta-reading (GO READ HIS FIC I CANNOT TELL YOU ENOUGH TIMES SERIOUSLY), even though he's super-busy and has never actually read all of Erased, because I met him when he reviewed Really Bad Clothes, which was a gift-fic to the lovely LiteraryMirage (GO READ HER FIC I CANNOT TELL YOU ENOUGH TIMES SERIOUSLY) for having the 107th review on Erased. LOL. And then LiteraryMirage took me cosplaying! Seriously, my life is so different now that I'm a Fanfic Writer. I mean, not super different in the day-to-day sense. But I'm a Fanfic Writer! Pretty much all of my high school friends are amazed at what a huge mega-dork I am, but I've always been this way, I just used to keep it a secret. LOL.

Oh, and happy St. Paddy's day! If you're anything like me, you have a raging hangover right now. I mean, uh, what? I'm a good influence! Yeah!


	35. Chapter 35

I'M SO SORRY THAT I DISAPPEARED! In the time span since the last update, I: became a full-time student again, switched jobs, and moved. Things have been busy over here at Erased HQ! But never fear, for I have written a chapter! Hooray!

* * *

**Erased - Chapter 35**

Cloud was hunched over Leon, who was apparently unconscious. He rocked quietly, back and forth, sobbing, or at least, that's what he'd been doing until Sora barged in. His head shot up when Sora said his name, and his eyes widened. He stayed that way for a long moment.

Leon's body, however, was not what had caught Sora's attention. Neither was Cloud's wild appearance, gaunt and colorless and very unlike Cloud. No.

What caught Sora's attention was that his brother was a vampire.

That was new.

"You live with _vampires_!" Kairi hissed. She didn't sound angry so much as startled and scared. Sora supposed he could have warned her, but then, he'd never met anyone besides Riku who had issues with vampires. Vaan said nothing, but then, he'd met Leon before, so he knew what to expect. Demyx was unconscious, and Zexion was unreadable. Riku's reaction was the closest to Sora's- he'd met Cloud before, so he knew that Cloud was not usually a vampire. That and Sora knew for a fact that Riku hated 'vampire stank.' He saw Riku's nose wrinkle.

"Cloud?" Sora asked again, ignoring Kairi's question. Cloud continued to stare at him. He found himself unable to move. Cloud's eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. Sora could feel him, feel the infection in his blood, in a way he hadn't been able to before. Cloud was tainted. He knew that Cloud was experiencing the same sensation, feeling Sora's power for the very first time, two brothers who had spent their entire lives together getting to know each other in an wholly new light.

"That's Sora's brother," Riku offered Kairi as an explanation, in a hushed whisper, though it echoed awkwardly in the silence of the room. Vaan finally tensed at being brought face-to-face with the owner of the bike he'd destroyed, but Sora couldn't even muster the attention to be mad at him.

_When did this happen! _Sora was desperate to ask. _**How**__ did this happen? Why didn't you tell me! _He couldn't get his vocal cords to make noise. At the very least, he supposed, this explained why Cloud had disappeared for a while, and why he'd abandoned his precious motorcycle. No matter what he'd said, however, Sora would have preferred it to be because his brother was out philandering or doing something else dumb. He'd never wish something like this on Cloud.

Cloud was the first one to break the silence, though without answering any of Sora's silent inquiries.

"Squall needs help," he croaked, his voice strange. "I can't-" He stopped and averted his eyes. Sora understood the problem. Sooner or later, the sun would come up. Cloud couldn't go outside. Beautiful, athletic, sun-kissed Cloud couldn't go outside.

"What happened?" Riku asked, meaning Leon's condition and not Cloud's. He went over to Leon's side. The rest of the crew stayed still. Sora himself broke out of his trance, but barely- his feet were lead, his stomach was stone. _How did this happen?_

"I-" Cloud stopped. His voice was halting and almost afraid, very unlike the confident Cloud that Sora always knew. "His face," he whispered. He refused to move to let Riku get a better look, so Riku had to peek around Cloud's possessive arms. When he saw the wound, he muttered what Sora presumed to be a curse in Japanese.

"We need to stop the bleeding," he said quickly. "Come on, we need to get him up to his room." Sora wasn't sure when Riku had become Mr. Large-And-In-Charge, but he was grateful for it. Vaan, being the only other person capable of helping, moved to help Riku pry Leon away from Cloud. When he saw Leon's blood-streaked face, Vaan was forced to turn his head away and retch. Cloud gave up Leon reluctantly before collapsing to the floor.

Kairi stayed in the corner with Zexion and Demyx. She stood slightly in front of Zexion, protecting her with her body, eyeing the proceedings warily and refusing to speak another word. That was fine by Sora- he could only deal with one complication at a time.

He had to figure out what to do with Cloud.

Cloud himself had returned to sobbing pathetically as soon as Leon had been removed. He looked so small, curled up on the floor. Sora was entirely unused to seeing Cloud like this. _He _was the emotional one. Cloud was who he'd looked up to his entire life, who he'd wished he could be if only he wasn't a freak. Now Cloud had been gifted a one-way ticket to freaktown, and Sora had no idea what he was supposed to do. He'd found himself lost fairly often in his short life, but Cloud had been a constant, an unwavering force of steadiness in Sora's turbulent existence. Now, in the span of one short month, Cloud had thrown him two very upsetting curve balls. First he'd left Sora with Leon, and now he'd gotten himself turned into a vampire. Sora couldn't help but wonder- if only they still lived together, if only he'd _been there, _could he have stopped this from happening?

He took one step forward, and then another. Cloud didn't react. He lowered his wings, an unconscious gesture of submission. He didn't want his brother to feel threatened, not that he'd ever seen Cloud be afraid of him before. When he reached Cloud's side, he knelt down and tried his best to look into his brother's eyes.

"Cloud," he said quietly. He didn't know what else to say, so he asked the first question that came to mind, a silly but natural one, considering that his brother was crying like an angry baby. "Are you ok?"

* * *

Cloud refused to look at Sora. All of his effort was necessary to do so, since his little brother's presence was overwhelming- broad, confident, positive. Even though it had taken him a few years, he finally understood why Leon had been so startled by it the day they'd all found out. That, however, was the least of his issues.

His little brother was going to want answers. Information.

How could he explain what had happened to Sora? He wasn't in the habit of talking to his baby brother about his sex life, so he'd have to leave that part out. He hadn't even told Leon. So he'd just say he was alone in Sephiroth's apartment. But Sora always asked so many questions- he'd ask _why _Cloud had decided to be alone with him. And then Cloud would have to lie some more.

He couldn't deal with this. He closed his eyes and hoped that Sora would, for the first time ever, just leave him alone.

Sora didn't speak again for a long time, but his body did the talking for him. His wings fluttered with concern, painfully loud in the silent church. Cloud redirected his attention to the rest of the visitors, all of whom, or so his new condition informed him, were Others. The two that had taken Leon away he didn't recognize, though he could guess the silver-haired one was the werewolf Leon had told him about. The three in the corner were completely unknown to him. Unlike Sora's definitive presence, theirs were muddled and unclear. The strongest was the girl.

Sora hovered over him, for once in the figurative sense and not the literal one. He obviously had no idea what he should do, either, and well, Cloud was not really any good at asking for help. He'd barely been able to ask Squall to help him out when he was in desperate financial straits, and after he'd been turned, he'd been brought back to the church entirely against his will. He didn't enjoy being in Squall's debt. And, of course, he'd repaid his best friend by mauling him. As soon as Squall woke up, he'd tell them all what happened- that Cloud had done it, he was too dangerous to live with-

_No. That's not going to happen, _Cloud corrected himself. He knew for a fact that all of the stereotypes about Others being a threat to bodily safety were bunk, having taken care of Sora for so long. But he _was _a threat to bodily safety! He'd injured Squall! What if he lost control again!

He felt a sudden pang of regret, regretting the decision to leave Sora to live with Squall, even though he never could have known that everything would turn out like this. Now that Squall was incapacitated, someone else was going to have to get Cloud his blood. Cloud didn't want to be spoon-fed by his baby brother.

Or maybe Sora wouldn't even want to spoon-feed him.

Squall's words rang harsh in Cloud's vampire ears, about how he'd abandoned Sora, about what a horrible brother he was. Maybe Sora would abandon him, too. He probably deserved it. He was shit.

Cloud sank into the murky depths of self-loathing, curled up on the ground and fully prepared for the force of the disgust he believed Sora was about to rain down on him. He was limp and prone and his defenses were entirely gone. He was too tired to fight anymore. He was ready for whatever the universe gave him- at this point, he'd take whatever he could get.

Much to his surprise, however, before long, Cloud felt himself being lifted off the ground. His new extra senses told him the lifter was Sora, which bothered him- he always forgot how strong the kid was. Sora smelled both wonderfully familiar and horribly gross. Cloud's mothering instincts kicked in and he briefly thought about trying to make Sora go take a sponge bath. But given that Sora was probably about to throw him out of the church, the concern was irrelevant.

What happened next, however, surprised him.

Once he was upright, Sora wrapped his wings around him and pulled him into a monster hug.

"I was so worried," he whispered, the sincerity in his words making his voice shake. Sora, his own little brother, the one he'd always regarded as helpless and dependent, had been worried about him.

"I'm sorry," he tried to say, but the words didn't come out. What did come out was raw emotion, a flood of feelings that Cloud had been keeping inside, that finally began to emerge now that he was in a safe zone, with his only living family. He could feel his sobs coming back, refreshed and more powerful than ever.

"God, Sora," he choked out. He buried his face in Sora's smelly tank-top. "I'm sorry." Once the words came out, the floodgates opened. He bawled into Sora's shoulder, utterly unable to pull himself together, and lacking any desire to try. "I'm so fucking sorry."

* * *

Vaan helped Riku carry Leon up the stairs at the back of the church. He'd seen the church before, of course, but he hadn't noticed just how dilapidated the place really was. There was a hole in the ceiling, for fuck's sake. Though he supposed vampires wouldn't be able to pay for building maintenance. Leon probably didn't own the building legally, anyway. Not that Vaan would judge squatters, since he himself was one, too.

He found himself being forced to think about these things to keep his mind off of the wound on Leon's face. Blood was everywhere- dripping onto the floors- seeping down Leon's chin and neck and soaking into his clothes. From what he could see from around the caked goo, the source of the flow was a gash straight down the middle of Leon's face. God knows how that had gotten there.

"His room's this way," Riku instructed, and they turned down the hallway.

"What're we going to do when we get there?"

"He has, you know, bandages and stuff. I'll figure something out." Riku was very familiar with Leon's church. A little more familiar than a casual visitor would be.

"You stay here a lot?"

"Sort of." Riku said nothing else on the matter. Vaan helped him maneuver Leon's unconscious body into a tiny bedroom at the end of the hall. After placing Leon on the cot itself, Vaan worked on removing Leon's thoroughly-ruined shirt and most of the sheets while Riku fumbled for a light switch. He eventually found one, connected to one pathetic, uncovered light bulb in the middle of the ceiling. The single exposed bulb cast the room in an eerie light, putting Leon's blood in sharp contrast with his impossibly pale skin.

"I'll grab some cloths and you can start cleaning him up while I find the bandages," Riku said quietly before slipping back out of the room, leaving Vaan alone with a corpse. Leon certainly looked dead, save the occasional shallow breath. He didn't look at all like the same surly vampire who'd kicked Vaan out of his home barely more than a week before.

Riku reappeared with a bowl of water, a cheap bar of soap, and a pile of rags of questionable cleanliness. Vaan raised an eyebrow and Riku shrugged.

"That's the best he had in his kitchen," he said. Vaan nodded and took the supplies. Riku left again, and Vaan set to work. Or rather, he set to preparing himself for the work.

Vaan didn't like blood. Maybe because he himself was unable to be injured, but something about other people's blood always managed to squick him. He'd had to dress wounds before out of necessity- injuries were plentiful and doctors were few down in Low Town- but of the two of them, Penelo was the better nurse. But Riku would be the one dressing the actual wound, right? All Vaan had to do was clean it up. Right?

He dipped a cloth into the soapy water and went to work everywhere but Leon's face. He dabbed at the caked blood on Leon's neck and chest. There was also plenty of the stuff in his hair, but Vaan wasn't sure if he'd be able to get it out. He wasn't sure how Leon would react if he tried to hack out some of the blood-matted locks- he was no hair stylist- so he left them as they were.

Finally, everything was more or less cleaned off, save the wound itself. In spite of himself, Vaan was worried about going near Leon's mouth, even if he was unconscious. He'd just lost a lot of blood, and he was sure to be hungry. Vaan shook his head to clear himself up.

_No one's able to bite you, doofus, _he chided himself. _He wouldn't even be able to break the skin. _Vaan went to work clearing up Leon's face, ignoring the twitching muscles that indicated that his brisk motions were causing pain. The wound itself was surprisingly small considering the amount of blood. It was just one gash, diagonal across his face, from his forehead, straight across the bridge of his nose, then down to one cheek. The red mark was harsh and deliberate. Vaan had no idea how someone could get such a cut.

Riku found Leon's first-aid kit, such as it was, in one of the kitchen cabinets, and came back to the bedroom. He nodded his approval at Vaan's work and dug out some gauze and tape.

"Is that going to be enough?" Vaan asked. He spoke in a hushed whisper, the same way one would in a funeral home, or in the presence of any coffin.

"It should be enough to stop the bleeding," Riku said, "but it looks deep enough to need stitches, and he doesn't have the stuff for that." _And, _Vaan added silently, _would either of us even know how to do stitches on someone's face?_ After a long pause, Riku added, "It'll probably leave a scar." Vaan looked down at Leon's handsome face, marred forever, right between the eyes.

"Well, it's not like he can see his face, anyway," said Vaan, an attempt at a joke that was startlingly inappropriate, given the circumstances. Riku glared at him and he stopped talking.

"We just need to make sure it doesn't get infected," was Riku's final word on the subject, as he finished bandaging up Leon's face. The work was somewhat sloppy, but he did manage to leave the nostrils and mouth exposed so that Leon could breathe. Vaan supposed it was lucky that vampires by nature did not eat solid food.

Riku and Vaan didn't speak again for a long moment, and of course neither did Leon, their incapacitated companion. Vaan tried to feel sorry for Leon's predicament, but the cogs in his mind were already turning. He'd been counting on this vampire to help him help Penelo, but now, who knew? Really, who knew what his condition was going to be when he woke up? He needed another plan. If he'd had his own stupid way, he would have broken into the Shinra Building while those others were breaking out. Of course, that was why Penelo had decided it was best if she went and not him. He was famous for his stupid ideas.

Wait.

_While the others were breaking out._

In the excitement, he'd forgotten. Kairi, Zexion, and Demyx had _come out _of the Shinra Building, powerful Others all of them, and clearly highly valued by Shinra itself, if the recovery operation they'd launched was any indication. That meant two very important things to Vaan. One, that it was possible for people to break out of that building, however difficult it may be.

And two, that these mystery Others might have been in contact with Penelo.

Vaan all but shot for the door, barely noticing that Riku had beaten him to it.

"Hey. Somebody should stay with him, I think," Riku said, indicating Leon. "I'm going to go see if Sora's ok. Stay here, all right?" Vaan opened his mouth to protest, but bit his tongue. He had time. Kairi and her charges were too frazzled to be questioned right now, anyway, and it was unsafe for them to leave the building. They'd literally _have_ to stay put until he had a chance to talk to them.

"Ok," he agreed, before plopping down in a chair, content for the time being to watch the rise and fall of Leon's chest, a rhythmic indication that the vampire was still alive.

He had time.

* * *

Ok, so- this chapter is a liiiittle bit shorter than some other ones, mostly because it's so bogged down in angst, and who wants to read 6,000 words of angst-bog? More importantly, I don't want to _write _6,000 words of angst-bog. That, frankly, sounds awful.

Regardless, I would like to give a shout-out to PANTHARYA for beta-reading and sending me an adorable e-mail about how excited he was that he'd finally made it through all 34 chapters. No small feat, as I'm sure all of you know! Everybody, I'm issuing an Erased Community Action Alert. (We have those now.) Go to his FFnet page. Read the amazing KH fanfiction. Post reviews praising the virtues of the finished fics and demanding updates on the unfinished ones. Is all I'm sayin'. ;)

Tune in for our next installment, where we find out how exactly Penelo has been doing since her broken-bottle-to-the-gut escapade. Also, Roxas will do the macarena. I AM WARNING YOU NOW THAT ONE OF THESE THINGS WILL HAPPEN AND ONE WILL NOT.

**Q OF THE UPDATE: **I've recently been encountering a lot of fanfic-writing crazy KH nerds who have not actually played any of the games. They're all "Zexion is such a nice person! He wants to keep the Organization together!" and I'm all "Uh, what. Did we play the same games?" and they're all "Oh, I don't play video games at all." and I'm all "WTF." So, 'fess up- which KH games have you played? If you haven't played any, how did you get into the fandom? I own and have played all of them, including both versions of CoM, though I never finished the PS2 version because I like the GBA version much better. But it was totally worth buying it on the PS2, because I got free postcards! Wheeeee!


	36. Chapter 36

**Erased - Chapter 36**

Kairi had no idea what was going on with the vampires or the bird kid. What she did know was that she needed to get Zexion somewhere safe. His magical signature was both strong and unique, and since she now knew that Shinra had Others on their side, she was going to have to put extra effort into hiding him. Her only obstacle was the unfortunate fact that clambering around Sora and his brother in their current state would be somewhat insensitive. Luckily, fate smiled on her on that one. Sora scooped up his brother, spread his wings, and turned to Kairi.

"We're gonna rest for a little while, I think," he said. "The kitchen's upstairs if you're hungry." Before Kairi had a chance to ask where he was going, Sora flew up into the rafters, out of view. She supposed that that was where his room was.

In any case, she now had free rein to search the area.

"Zexion," she whispered softly. She hated using that name. "I'm going to go check this place out. Will you be ok for a little while?" Zexion did not acknowledge her. He was still cradling Demyx in his arms, refusing to let go. She supposed Zexion would go nowhere without him, which meant she had to find a place to hide them both.

What a drag.

Kairi felt little to no obligation towards Démé Desmarais, save the nonspecific guilt she felt towards her part in Shinra's treatment of all of the Nobodies. From what she'd gathered, Démé had been a pretty shit person, and the world wasn't really suffering from not having him around. Of course, the world wasn't really suffering from not having The Cloaked Schemer stealing its money, either. There was an awareness to be had there, but Kairi actively refused to think further into it.

In any case, Zexion's fragile mental state was clearly tied to Demyx's well-being, so for the present, they'd have to stay together. She just didn't want to have to deal with him when he woke up. Lack of sleep and lack of booze had given her a severe headache, and she could swear she was seeing two of everything, and really she just wanted to lie down, but first she had to hide Zeke. Zexion. Whatever.

The church was small and in very poor repair, but with limited poking around, Kairi was able to find a door that led to stairs going down. The place had a cellar. Putting Zeke back in a basement probably wasn't the best idea, but being underground would help hide him. Normally, Zeke was very adept at hiding his magical signature, but she wouldn't be able to ask him to help conceal them for quite some time. The basement was a quick fix.

"Zexion," she said, after going back to her brother. "Come on. We need to go." This time, Zexion looked up at her through his messy hair.

"Can Demyx come with us?"

"Yes." That seemed to satisfy Zexion, and he made an effort to scoop his friend up. He couldn't do it, so Kairi had to help him. Together they managed to carry Demyx over to the stairs and get him down below. Leon's basement was dark and stuffy, but the air was safe to breathe.

"I don't like it here," Zexion said shortly. Kairi took off her lab coat, and covered Zexion's body with it.

"Just hold on for a little while, and I'll bring you back some pillows and blankets, ok?" She left before Zexion could answer. He may be unhappy, but he was in no state to climb back out with Demyx in tow, and he would never leave his friend. She was assured that he would be in the same place when she came back.

A quick go-around of the first floor of the church made it quite plain that Leon was somewhat lacking in linens. She didn't want to go upstairs, knowing that he was injured. So, she'd have to go out and get some herself.

It wasn't really a problem. She needed a drink anyway.

Kairi walked out to the door. She was beyond exhausted. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open.

She hadn't been outside, outside without an agenda, in a long time. The world looked more or less the same as she remembered. The buildings were smaller than in midtown, but larger than where she'd lived in Brooklyn. She stood outside the church for a long moment, lost and confused, blinking in the bright light, staring up at the yellow sky.

The crowds began a couple blocks away. Most people traveled by foot these days, she remembered, and it would be easy for her to lose herself in the throng. Or, that is, it _would _be easy, if it weren't for her wacko outfit. She was still decked out in Shinra's finest standard-issue. The first problem was finding new clothes for herself. And Zexion and Demyx, for that matter.

Kairi didn't have any money, but that had never stopped her before. She just needed to find an inconspicuous jackhole with a wallet she could steal, is all. Her target revealed himself to her: an awkward, middle-aged man in a suit.

He certainly looked like he had enough money to spare.

Knocking him out was easy. She was strong enough to move his body out of the way, too. No one noticed- everyone in New York was too concerned with themselves to care. That much, at least, had remained the same during her two years of basement living.

"Sorry," she muttered, out of ingrained politeness more than any actual guilt. She yanked the man's wallet out of his back pocket and quickly emptied his cash and cards, leaving only his license and other identification, since she wouldn't wish a trip to replace them on anyone. Between everything in the wallet, she only had around one hundred dollars. She pocketed the cards, too, even though she wasn't sure if she'd be able to use them. With one push, she dumped the man into a gutter. No one would know how he got there. That was how the city worked, right? She couldn't help but feel disdain for the man as she left him.

Normal humans had it too easy.

An open area with shops was only a short distance away, and Kairi managed to identify it as Union Square. She ducked into the very first store with clothing in the window. Her look needed an update, immediately.

"Hi," an overly-cheerful clerk asked her. "Can I help you- uh-?" Kairi brushed past her. She knew what she must look like; she knew she must be alarming. Not only was she unwashed and coming down off what she could only describe as a jailbreak, but she knew her expression must be severe. Years of all but refusing to smile, of having no reason to smile, did not do much for her charisma. She'd seen similar reactions to her face on her employees back at Shinra.

"I can find everything myself," she said shortly.

Kairi did indeed manage to find the girl section of the store, caught in between a wall of mirrors and some stylized mannequins, resting upon shiny, polished-concrete floor. She realized upon arrival, however, that she had no idea what her size was. She was a growing girl, after all, even if her full size was barely larger than your average kid in puberty. Before she'd gone underground, she'd still been wearing the large kids' sizes. She plucked a few items off some racks and snuck back to the dressing rooms.

Her own body was weird and foreign to her. She stripped down to her underwear and stood, for a long moment, facing herself in the mirror, shoulders square. She looked even worse than she'd suspected. Some debris from the escape and the church had mixed into her hair, augmenting its general dirtiness. Her skin was pale, almost disturbingly so. And her eyes- her eyes were flat and nearly expressionless, sunken into her face, glaring out at the world indiscriminately. Kairi spent several minutes trying to force herself to show an emotion besides resigned hopelessness, with little to no success.

All of the clothes she'd picked out were too big for her. This was completely ridiculous. Her thoughts turned briefly to Penelo. She wasn't like this- she'd know what her size was. She'd keep track of that sort of thing, for when she got out. Kairi never thought about when she'd get out.

She'd expected to die in Shinra's basement.

The realization cut her. She pushed it to the bottom of her mind, grabbed a couple of pairs of jeans in one size smaller than what she'd tried, and a few extra-small t-shirts off a rack. As she was moving towards the check-out, she realized that she should probably grab some clothes for Zexion, too. She had no idea what Zexion's size was, so she grabbed a variety from small to medium. A t-shirt with an American flag motif; one with a tuxedo print; one with a large sketch of a bee, slightly off-center. Weird shirts, to be sure, but that was what the store had.

"Did you find everything all right?" the clerk asked, the same girl who'd greeted her when she'd come into this place. This time, Kairi took a better look at her. She had a glistening alternative-lifestyle haircut, glasses with no lenses, and a chunky lip piercing.

"Yes," she said. The total was more than two hundred dollars. She handed over the unconscious man's credit card. The girl with the asymmetrical haircut did not ask for ID. Kairi took her bags, and walked back out onto the street.

She still needed linens, but she didn't know where to get them, and she realized she needed to change her clothes. She hadn't gotten that drink yet, either. After another half hour of wandering around with no success on either front, she found a tiny, hole-in-the-wall bar on a side street. Satisfied that no one on the street had recognized her, she bowed her head and ducked inside.

She changed her clothes in the bathroom. The jeans fit snugly, a little loose in the waist, but not anything that would be a problem. Digging through the bag, she found the least awkward t-shirt. It had a picture of a palomino horse on it. The front of the horse was on the front, and the back of the horse was on the back. It was weird. She stuffed the filthy Shinra dress back into the bag and went up to the bar to order a drink. A place like this wouldn't card, anyway.

"Nice outfit," the bartender said. "It's an improvement. You just get off work?"

"You could say that. I need a shot," Kairi said, all in one breath. She plopped herself down on a barstool. The bags of clothes dropped uselessly onto the ground.

"Shot of what?"

"I dunno. Whiskey. A cheap kind," Kairi muttered. The bartender raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told. Within seconds, a musty glass was shoved across the bar into Kairi's waiting hands. She downed the shot gratefully. The cheap whiskey burned her throat, but it was a comfortable burn. Familiar.

"Another one of those," she said.

"I haven't seen you in here before," the bartender said, as she poured. "Most of my customers are regulars. My name's Tifa."

"That's nice," Kairi said, without paying attention. She downed the second shot and tossed some bills on the bar.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind," said Tifa. Kairi shrugged.

"None of your goddamn business." Instead of leaving her alone, like she should have done, Tifa burst out laughing. Kairi wasn't sure what was so funny, but this bartender's big personality was invading her personal space. She wasn't used to idle conversation.

"Ha! I have a friend like that. Always worrying about his brother. And it's always all over his face, and he acts like no one can tell." Now, that was a little too close to home. Kairi pushed away from the bar and stood up, gathering her bags.

"Thanks for your insight," Kairi said shortly. "One more question- where can I buy bed linens around here?"

"Bed linens? Uh- that big store at the end of Union Square has a little bit of everything," she said. "You just move here?"

Kairi left without saying a word.

After buying some sheets and blankets, she headed back towards the church. They were all in white, since that was the least expensive, out of consideration for the unconscious man whose credit card she'd stolen. She'd go home, make a bed for Zexion and Demyx, and a bed for herself. They could all get some rest, then figure out what they were going to do next.

Like it or not, her new life had started.

* * *

Penelo woke up on a hospital bed. Well, _bed_ was a strong word. The thing was more of a cot, really, a harsh metal frame with a thin cot strapped on top. Her back ached from lying on it, though that might have just been the wound in her gut. She couldn't move, not yet, but she was aware of the thick bandage around her middle, and she was aware that she was heavily medicated.

What she wouldn't give to have her brother's ability, right then. He hadn't been sick or injured a single day in his entire life. She tried to lift her head. Suddenly, it came back to her.

_Kairi._

Had she managed to escape? Had she taken her brother? Did Seth Corvus wake up before she did, and catch them? How long had it even been? She wiggled her fingers to make sure she could still move, and tried to sit up.

"She's conscious," someone said quickly, outside her peripheral vision.

"Already? Adjust her meds," came the response. "She's dehydrated, and she needs rest. Put her back to sleep."

"No," Penelo choked. Her voice was cracked and hoarse. Someone in white adjusted the IV next to her face. "No."

Everything went black.

When she awoke again, her situation had not changed. She was disoriented, but this time, she didn't move. After one, reflexive blink, she kept her eyes tightly shut. Using her ears, she reached out into the room.

A low beep- that must be the medical equipment. Given that she didn't exist, she was amazed that Shinra had any real medical care available for her at all. That, and the head of the company now knew that she was an Other. Kairi, too. Why were they making an effort to save her life?

Satisfied that no one else was in the room, she allowed her eyes to open, and she tilted her head up to take a quick look around the room. Her cot was the only piece of furniture, save for a cart of portable medical equipment, a single folding chair, and of course her IV. The white walls and white tile floors could belong to any building in the basement of Shinra. At least she knew she hadn't been moved off-site. Whether that was good or bad, she didn't know.

Having gleaned as much information as she could from her surroundings, Penelo's thoughts turned to work. Without her or Kairi, the DIZ project would be in total disarray. And as much as she hated to admit it, even she wouldn't be much use without her. She'd never understood the Naminé program to begin with, and with the big boss gone, she had no hope of ever figuring it out. Her thoughts were dwelling on how Olette and the others were doing, when the door opened.

She closed her eyes immediately, but it was already too late.

"It's good to see you've regained consciousness." The chair shifted. Someone sat down. "Your name's… Penelo, right? With no last name." He laughed. "I prefer no last name, myself. It suits our kind better, I think." Penelo was careful not to react, but she'd been feeling the waves of magic ever since he'd walked in. She recognized the signature right away.

Seth Corvus.

"Are you well enough to speak?" he asked. She didn't answer. "Well, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to have a little chat with you." She felt him lean forward, and she swallowed hard. Hopefully he didn't notice.

"I wanted to thank you."

_Thank me?_

"For trying to stop her," he went on smoothly. "At least, I assume that's how you got the stab wound." Penelo said nothing. That had been Kairi's explanation for giving it to her. She couldn't believe Seth Corvus would fall for something so silly, though. She waited quietly for the other shoe to drop.

"I'm just happy you were there." Seth leaned back in his chair. "It's very fortunate that you were both in the lab at such an odd time of day. I admit that I'm not familiar with the day-to-day of your shifts, but I thought the two of you switched off. What made you go down to the lab on that day, at that time?"

Penelo's heart rate quickened. There it was.

"You must have known about her," he continued. "Did she threaten you?" Penelo said nothing. "Did she ever try to use her abilities on you?" She couldn't help it- her lips twitched upwards, and she cracked the tiniest of smiles. She heard Seth laugh, too.

"Oh?" he said. Well, Penelo had proven she was listening, and that Kairi's powers struck a note with her. Seth Corvus, meanwhile, had revealed that he wasn't sure what Kairi's powers actually were. She had no choice but to speak. She opened her eyes.

"Sorry, Mr. Corvus," she said quietly. Her voice was raspy from lack of use, but not unintelligible.

"Please," he laughed. "That's my human name. Call me Sephiroth."

_Sephiroth? _The word had religious significance, but Penelo was at a loss for what. He seemed like the type to pick an overly grandiose name for himself, though. She'd chosen Penelo by stringing together random sounds until she found a set she liked. Clearly, there was a greater space between them than just the boss-employee relationship.

"Mr. Sephiroth," she repeated. "I'm sorry I can't help you with Kairi."

"And you don't know why you ran into her at that time?"

"I don't remember." She gestured to the bump on her head she'd received when she fell. _I don't remember _was the best answer she could come up with. They'd probably captured Kairi as she was trying to leave the building with Zexion. One or both of them was probably already inside Twilight Town, under Naminé's gentle stewardship. What did Seth Corvus- Sephiroth- have to gain by asking her these questions? They could pull the answers from Kairi themselves. Unless-

Unless Kairi had actually managed to escape.

"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked. _Days? Weeks?_

"Only a few hours. Our kind heal quickly," he said.

"A few hours," she repeated. She was surprised, but relieved. In that amount of time, she wouldn't have been able to miss anything important, and they still would need her to work the computers. No one would have replaced her yet.

"I have a few more questions for you, before you can go back to sleep," Sephiroth continued brusquely. His bedside manner left something to be desired. "Do you know which Nobody she took with her?"

"Number 6," Penelo answered automatically. "Zexion." Sephiroth looked at her curiously, and she added, "I saw them. Before she stabbed me." She averted her eyes.

"You monitor those Nobodies," he pressed. "Is there any reason why she would take Number 6? Is there anything special about him?"

"No, sir," said Penelo. Either Sephiroth was bluffing, or they really hadn't figured out Kairi's true identity. "If I were trying to break out- which I'm not," she added quickly, "I would've chosen someone with a little more firepower. Like Number 8." She realized that, in trying to cover her own ass, she'd said something wrong. Sephiroth's mood darkened immediately.

"It wouldn't work, even if you tried it," he said. "They're impossible to control." He stood up to leave.

"Wait," she said quickly. More had been revealed in those few words than she'd been expecting. "Mr. Co- uh, Mr. Sephiroth, if you don't mind my asking- what's going to happen to me?"

"You'll be taking over Miss Smith's place as the head of the DIZ Team, naturally. I feel better having one of our kind heading the research." Penelo hoped that Sephiroth would never use the phrase _our kind _ever again. It was creepy.

"Me?"

"Yes. You may have a few more hours to rest, but then, please, take stock of the situation. We don't want our eleven guests to be uncomfortable." Penelo winced internally at the thought of referring to their experiments as "guests." She couldn't tell if her boss was being deliberately cruel, or if he really did think they were treating the Nobodies to candy and puppy dogs. The thirteen of them were-

Wait.

"Eleven, sir? If we lost number six, don't you mean twelve?"

"There was an-" here, Sephiroth paused, the closest to discomfort she'd ever heard from him- "incident, with number 9. Neither of them are currently in the program. Any information you could glean from the Naminé system would be helpful." He left. The door closed, leaving a wake of irritation behind.

Penelo leaned back into her pillow. Demyx was gone. The head honcho was pissed about it. If Kairi were here, she'd figure out what was going on immediately. She was a genius. Penelo pushed a hand against her aching, wounded head.

_Think like Kairi, _she told herself. _Think like Kairi._

"Impossible to control," she whispered. It was all in those words, wasn't it? Their big experiment- the programmable people- Kairi had been so resistant to telling her anything. _Demyx_ had been the experiment. And now he was MIA. Dead? No- if he were dead, Sephiroth wouldn't want information. He was just missing. Ordinary missing.

Would Naminé know where he'd gone? Would she even tell her?

Penelo tore the IV out of her arm- it hurt, but not too bad- and climbed out of her bed. Her stomach wound hurt like hell, but not badly enough that she couldn't walk, though with a rather pronounced limp. A set of fresh, un-bloodied clothes were hanging nearby. Penelo took off her standard-issue hospital gown and changed. She stumbled over to the door and pushed it open. Naturally, a guard was stationed right outside.

"Whoa," he said. Penelo waited for another inquiry, like a _where are you going, _ but none came. She cleared her throat.

"Mr. Seph- Mr. Corvus," she corrected quickly, "alerted me to a change in the Na- in my work." Her breaths were raspy and uneven. She hadn't been out for that long, but she apparently hadn't recovered from whatever meds they'd been pumping into her arm. How quickly she forgot that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone what _work_ she really did. "Please take me to the lab area."

"Didn't you get stabbed in the stomach?"

"It wasn't very deep," she said. "Please. It's important."

"It's ok," he said, with a cute smile. Penelo, surprised, did not smile back. It was awkward. "Mr. Corvus told me to let you go as soon as you were up. The lab is just down that way, around the corner." So, they hadn't moved her very far at all. That made sense, since they'd thought she was bleeding to death.

"Thanks." Penelo took off down the hall at a painfully slow pace. She felt her way down using the wall, her feet cold on the tile floor. When she turned the corner, she recognized where she was immediately, even though to an untrained eye, everything looked exactly the same. This hallway was her hallway. She hobbled over to the lab door and pushed it open.

No one was inside. The blood had been cleaned up. If she hadn't been there when it happened, she would've had no idea that a fight had happened at all. Penelo staggered over to Kairi's chair and plopped down. The computer was off.

She typed in N-A-M-I-N-É.

"Naminé Program initiating." The system hummed, and the screen blinked on. Naminé's face appeared. Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened.

"Penelo?"

"Hi, Naminé." Naminé quickly averted her eyes. Penelo had never seen her do that, before. She asked the first question that came to her mind.

"Um. Are you ok?" Naminé rubbed her shoulder with a delicate hand. Penelo had never seen Naminé's hand before. It was almost like seeing another person, peering out at her from the other side of a window. Her face was remarkably similar to Kairi's, now that Penelo was looking at her properly. Her coloring, though, was closer to Penelo's. None of Kairi's vibrant colors, just washed-out white-blond hair, and icy blue eyes.

A theory occurred to her.

She'd never been able to get a handle on the Naminé program. She'd never been able to understand how it worked, despite sleepless nights spent analyzing pages and pages of code. What Penelo hadn't done, however, is divorce herself from the notion that she was looking at a computer program at all.

What if Naminé wasn't a program? What if she was a _person_, like the others trapped in Twilight Town Academy?

Skeletons were tumbling out of Kairi's closet at an alarming rate.

"I'm fine," Naminé said. "What can I help you with?" An ordinary person wouldn't have noticed the difference, but Penelo, applying her program-is-a-person theory, had spent enough time with Naminé to tell that she was being evasive. Naminé would have known Kairi was coming, known that she took Zexion, and Shinra would have forced her to release Demyx. She knew everything that had happened, intimately, and she was avoiding the question. Kairi was the closest person to Naminé, right? Was Naminé trying to protect her.

"Kairi got out." Naminé looked at Penelo again, her eyes wide with surprise. Then, her expression softened. "Kairi got out," Penelo repeated quietly.

"And Zexion?"

"He's gone, too," she said. Naminé was adept at communicating without words, so she didn't need details. "Demyx?"

"He is not in the system."

"Then he's missing, too," Penelo said. She was all business, now. Business was a language she believed Naminé could speak. "I don't think any of them are dead, or I would've been told. And I don't think they're on the premises." Penelo winced and grabbed her wound. "I think they escaped." Naminé bowed her head.

"That's good," she whispered, barely audible.

"Do you know where they might have gone?" Naminé averted her eyes again. Penelo cleared her throat. "Sorry. How's everyone else?"

"Stable." Asking where Kairi was had shut Naminé down. Well, Penelo could take Kairi off the table as a subject. They just had to work together, that was all. Penelo could find out about Kairi on her own.

"I need the records of all of the major changes in the system," Penelo said. "All of the spikes, all major events, and every time someone was brought in or let out." Naminé nodded, and the printer fired up. Penelo would be able to find out when Naminé had been uploaded to the system that way, along with any odd details about Zexion and Demyx's releases. She wasn't tired, anyway; she had plenty of time to read.

Neither girl said anything while the records were printing. When they were done, Penelo picked up the stack of papers and tucked them into a folder. She turned to leave.

"Good night, Naminé."

"Good night, Penelo. Please be advised that all Naminé system conversations are recorded for quality assurance." Penelo froze. The computer shut down.

_All conversations are recorded. _That's why Naminé wouldn't talk to her. Then, how could Kairi communicate with her, either?

_She's a psychic. Duh._

Things were getting more complicated than they'd been before. Penelo limped back to her room, her brain racing.

She needed to figure out her next move.

* * *

OMG IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I POSTED A CHAPTER. I'm an asshole. They've been locking me up on a college campus and forcing me to play clarinet for grades. Sorry if any of the above is lame or clichéd, it's totally un-betaed. Turns out, I write lame, clichéd shit when left to my own devices. WHO KNEW?

Anyway- I'm gonna try and work on some of my other fics, too. Sorry for the delays. I do care, I'm just busy. FOR THE RECORD: E-mailing me to tell me to update doesn't do much. I'm mostly just like, "Oh, someone e-mailed me to tell me to update," and then I go back to clarinet-prison.

QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: How did you cope with the many months of Erased's absence? Did you take up the violin? Re-read all of Harry Potter five or six times? Write your own totally awesome fanfic? Watch television? Take over the world?

ALSO: I have plans to go to Otakon, if anyone wants to meet up. :)


	37. Chapter 37

**Erased - Chapter 37**

Zexion didn't like the basement. He did, however, like watching Demyx sleep. He'd been left with a small electric lantern, and he placed it next to Demyx's face.

"How long are you going to stay asleep?" he wondered out loud. He had no precedent for this kind of behavior. At the Academy, they were all woken up and put to bed at the same time, every day. Besides that, Demyx was always one of the first to awaken. He said he needed the extra time to get his hair just right. Hair that was now lying messily flat, drab and lifeless. Zexion wished he knew how to fix it.

Zexion leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Sleep hadn't come for him in a long time. Whenever he allowed his mind to wander, he was bombarded with unwanted stimuli- places and faces he'd never seen, and thoughts that weren't his. More than anything else, his brain seemed intent to dwell on Kairi. The girl who had brought him here.

"She says she's my sister," he mumbled. Maybe Demyx could help him. "Wouldn't I know if I had a sister?" He thought as hard as he could, but everything that wasn't part of the Twilight Town Academy seemed hazy at best. Maybe something _was _wrong with his memory. Had he been hit on the head recently?

Zexion pondered these questions for a long while, but no matter how hard he tried, his brain kept slipping back onto the subject of Kairi. Whenever he pictured her face, he felt a peculiar emotion. The feeling rested in the pit of his stomach, sort of like nausea. It took him a good thirty minutes to come up with a name for it.

_Worry._

He was worried about her.

Had she said or done anything to make him worry? She'd only told him she was going to get them some new clothes. That didn't sound particularly dangerous, but then, Zexion was in unfamiliar territory. Maybe acquiring clothes _was_ a risky business.

Or, maybe his heart knew something that his head didn't.

"Is it possible to forget something really important…?" He thought of when he'd moved to protect her from Demyx. He didn't know her, but he didn't want to see her get hurt. "What do you think, Demyx?" His friend stayed motionless. "I wish you'd wake up," Zexion sighed. "I feel… lonely. I won't leave you, though. I can't leave you down here by yourself." He nodded to himself. Demyx was, after all, the only person he knew in the world, besides Roxas and Axel and the others, who were all still at the Academy.

He wondered, briefly, if he'd ever see them or the Academy ever again.

"Do you think we'll see our friends again?" Demyx didn't move. His sleep was reassuring. Nothing bothered him. He wasn't worried about some maybe-sister. Maybe, Zexion mused, he should learn from his friend's example. He lay down on the floor, stretched out next to him.

"Why did you say those things to Kairi?" he asked. "And… why did you call me that name?" The same one Kairi insisted on using. Zeke. It stirred up a set of feelings inside of him that were thoroughly unidentifiable. "I wish you'd wake up," he repeated, lamely. He closed his eyes. When he did, he remembered something.

Dreams.

"I wonder what you've been dreaming about," he mumbled, as he began to drift off. The basement began to fade away, and he rolled on his side to face Demyx, with a gentle sigh.

"Must be something good, if you don't want to wake up."

* * *

"It's done." Démé Desmarais snapped his fingers dramatically as he finished, yawning deeply, and stretching his arms above his head. The deep motion lifted his silk shirt ever so slightly, revealing the tiniest hint of sharp hip bones and a tiny tuft of blonde happy trail. He lazily opened one eye, and saw that everyone in the room was staring at him. Well, let them- everyone always stared.

"Uh, what? Already?" one man said hoarsely.

"Please. You didn't invite me here so I could take forever and waste your time, did you?" Démé asked warmly, in his disarmingly melodic French accent, offering his sweetest smile to every person in the room, watching each one melt. All of it was bullshit, of course, but bullshit was Démé's greatest weapon. Besides, of course, being able to blow any of these people up with a thought. Little bags of water on fat little legs, all of them. Not that he'd ever abuse his power. He hadn't ever had a reason to, anyway.

"Of course not, sir," a woman said humbly. Démé ignored her, and flitted over to the nearest window. He stared out at New York City. He'd been here loads of times, of course, his father always came here for work- but somehow, the place never lost its charm for him. Right now, right there below him, millions of people were realizing that their water wasn't running. They'd run outside, ask their neighbors what was going on. Chaos would ensue. Nothing brought people together like a disaster, right?

"I love this city," Démé breathed. "So many people, all different kinds. It just has that certain- ah, what do you Americans say- _je ne sais quoi_?" He laughed lightly, and everyone else laughed with him. Idiots.

Démé Desmarais was a beautiful person. Not beautiful on the inside, of course, but on the outside- his proportioned features and tall, masculine frame both enthralled people, and knocked them off their guard. His hair was always perfectly styled. His clothes were impeccably tailored. He exuded the perfect imagine of youth and money.

People took for granted that pretty meant kind.

People were stupid.

"Transfer the money to my account," he told the businessman. "I trust you can be discreet?"

"Of course, Mr. Desmarais." The man, like many Americans before him, pronounced his name wrong. A tiny burst of irritation shot up within him, before quickly being suppressed. Démé nodded politely before stepping out of the office, into the nearby elevator, and pressing the button to go down to the first floor. He already had a car waiting to take him to dinner, at one of his favorite restaurants, downtown. Crowds parted as he glided through the lobby. They could see how important he was, after all. Once he slipped into his car and gave the driver the address to the restaurant, he was able to drop his façade.

He couldn't show it in front of his clients, of course, but shutting down the plumbing of an entire city all by himself was exhausting.

With a sigh of relief, he leaned back into his seat, and poured himself a drink from the bar. Now that his work was done, he felt like he deserved a bit of fun on his vacation. He pulled out his phone.

Correction- his _second _phone.

Démé maintained two phone lines- one for business, and one for pleasure. This second phone was the one he pulled out now. His digital little black book. He could always pick up a new woman, of course, but tonight, he felt like something familiar. He'd made love to women throughout the States, but he always remembered which ones were in New York. New York was special. He scrolled down through the names until he settled on one.

Selphie. A nice, French-sounding name.

He dialed her number. In a matter of minutes, he'd made arrangements to meet her for drinks after his meal. Démé Desmarais was nothing if not efficient. He ate alone, and as soon as he finished dinner, he ordered his driver to go pick her up.

He took her to one of his favorite New York haunts- a trendy, exclusive place downtown. The server immediately apologized for only having bottled drinks. Apparently, something was wrong with their plumbing. Démé smiled his dazzling smile and told them it was no trouble at all. He slid Selphie's chair out for her, and she giggled as she sat down. She'd pulled out her finest for the occasion- a slinky black gown that didn't leave much to Démé's already vivid imagination.

Démé Desmarais had never felt love. Women were conquests to him, in the truest sense of the phrase. He had sex with them to boost his own self-esteem, even if he didn't even enjoy it. All the greatest men in history were known for having any woman they wanted, right? Watching someone melt under his attentions was the ultimate high. Other times, he'd compare his many trysts to being offered a free sample. Even if he didn't really want it, or need it, he'd take it anyway, because, hey, it was free. Selphie, both beautiful and intelligent, fell into the first camp.

They enjoyed their drinks together, chatting about a variety of topics, from the unusual weather, to how beautiful they both were. The last time Démé had met her, they'd only met and exchanged phone numbers. Tonight, he intended to seal the deal.

"Please," she giggled. Women were putty, to him. They were all the same. "Say something in French." American women always wanted him to bust out the French. He smiled a wicked smile, and leaned across the table to breathe into her ear.

"Bonjour, Selphie. J'ai eu beaucoup de filles qui sont plus belles que vous." She shivered and cooed. The insults flowed off Demyx's tongue easily, with a practiced grace. "Vos vetements sont bas de gamme. Vos cheveux sont ringard." He trashed her outfit, her family, and even told her her breasts were too small for him. He told her she had no prospects and no future, and that her miserable life would be spent suckling whatever she could get from any man unfortunate enough to pick her up, before tossing her out like yesterday's garbage. Through it all, Selphie stared up at him with star-struck eyes.

"Démé," she finally said. "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?" Her words were halting and poorly pronounced, with a thick and decidedly un-French accent and manner. Deme had no idea how every American woman had managed to pick up this one particular phrase, but by that point, he'd heard it in at least fifty different voices.

"Oui, mon cheri," he grinned back. "Come back to my hotel. I think you'll like it." He took her hand and gracefully led her to his waiting car.

Whenever Démé came to Manhattan, he stayed in the penthouse suite of Le Champs de Fleurs, a ritzy hotel in midtown. He waltzed in with the beautiful Selphie on his arm, and lightly tapped the button to go to the 56th floor.

"My room is nice," he laughed. "You'll like the view, I think." He led Selphie off of the elevator and directly into his suite. The floor-to-ceiling windows on every wall gave a perfect view of the city at night. Everyone else's lights were sparkling up at them, and the APDs sparkled down from above. Selphie inhaled a delicate breath.

"It's so beautiful." A less experienced man may have replied with something like "so are you," but Démé was too polished for lame pick-up lines.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asked instead, very politely. Selphie quirked an eyebrow, and looked him up and down. Yeah, she was definitely into him.

"Yeah. I think I would." She walked up to him, slid one leg in between his, and pulled him into a deep kiss.

That night, Démé Desmarais fucked Selphie Tilmitt exactly three times.

He pinned her to the bed before he entered her, forcing her to submit to him. She laughed, the deep, throaty laugh of a woman having fun. Démé grabbed her ass and lifted one leg up, only slightly, to allow him to thrust more deeply. Selphie dug her nails into his shoulder. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the smell of her perfume; or, maybe it was just her skin that smelled that way, like fresh water and flowers.

"Don't hold back," she said.

"I don't intend to," he mumbled into her skin. He began a steady rhythm, sliding in and out of Selphie's warm canal. He could feel the blood pumping through her body. Closing his eyes, he focused on that rhythm, pushing in and out in perfect time to her heartbeats. He felt connected to her, in a way he hadn't felt connected to a woman in a long time.

When they finished, he was completely exhausted- a difficult task to accomplish, when fucking an Other. He rolled onto his back and groaned with satisfaction. Selphie trailed a finger along his stomach.

"Was I good?"

"The best," Démé sighed.

"That's good." A slow silence stretched between them. "Well, I have to go to work in the morning, so I'd better go," she finally said. Démé sat up and watched her pull her clothes back on. He loved the way she pulled her bra over her head, rather than clasping it from behind. He also loved a woman who knew when to leave, rather than be kicked out.

"Would you like me to call a car for you?"

"It's fine. I'll take a cab." She finished dressing herself, and pulled on her coat. "Thanks for a good time," she said, with a lopsided smile. Démé smiled back.

"I'll call you again the next time I'm in New York," he said, and this time, he meant it.

"Mmm," she said. "Oh, and one more thing." She moved over to Démé in her heels. He cocked his head and grinned up at her, expecting a kiss. Instead, she leaned down, and whispered in his ear.

"Je comprends le français."

Démé stared at her, gaping, as she strutted out his hotel room and disappeared.

A swarm of emotions was buzzing up at him, from some dark place deep inside that he preferred not to visit. First came confusion and genuine surprise, and then, a quickly dismissed flash of what might have been hurt. Finally, he settled on anger. It wasn't rational anger, but it was the only emotion he had. In moments, it had taken him over.

His first instinct was to chase after her and throttle her, but that wasn't a smart decision. As much as he delighted in lowering the quality of life for the world's citizens, he hadn't fallen so far as to kill people who'd wronged him in cold blood.

He'd seen killing. It certainly wasn't pretty.

"_Has the ransom come in yet?" a man's voice asked impatiently. "I'm sick of babysitting this kid. He keeps whining at me about how he has to go to the bathroom." Démé shrank back to the back of the cage. He __**had **__been begging to use the restroom, hours before. Since then, he'd simply wet himself, and gone back to shaking in silence._

Démé groaned and clutched his head.

"_Apparently, Daddy Desmarais doesn't care if his brat lives or dies. You hear that, kid? Aw, you gonna cry?"_

"_Where's your mommy?"_

_Fat tears dripped from Démé's eyes, no matter how hard he tried to fight them. His father had told him, over and over again, that he was a big kid, now- he was five years old, and old enough not to cry. He wrapped his arms around himself, feeling his smelly, dirty clothes. He hadn't been changed in days._

"_Did you wet yourself? Hey, everybody come see this! The kid pissed himself!" _

Démé squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force the memories out. The bastards held him there for a full week, with barely any food. He nearly died. On the seventh day, he was released to his mother. She took him home and cleaned him up.

From then on, everyone pretended it didn't happen.

He was fine, for a year or two. His face had been plastered all over the news, and people would point and stare. The other students at his fancy private schools stopped being friends with him. Their parents were worried that their children would get abducted, too.

Two years after the fact, the nightmares started. His mother insisted that he go to a child psychologist. The man's voice rattled in his brain.

"_How did that make you feel?"_

"_I dunno. Scared, I guess?"_

They gave him pills. He took them every morning with breakfast.

A few years after that, his powers emerged, while his parents were having a fight. Over him, of course. Démé's sadness overtook him, and water began to pour from every corner of the apartment, matching his own tears.

A month later, his mother killed herself.

"Stop it," Démé whispered. The memories were assaulting him, and a searing pain passed through his head. "I don't want to remember." His hotel room suddenly seemed very quiet, and lonely. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I don't want to remember," he repeated, as if saying it enough times would make it true.

_The day he was abducted, his father took him to the park, at his mother's insistence. While Démé was out playing, his father left to take a phone call. A man in a dark jacket walked up to him. _

"_Are you Démé?" he asked. Démé nodded. People recognized him all the time, and he was used to meeting strangers at his father's functions. His parents always told him the most important thing was to be quiet, and polite. His father was, after all, a very important man. That's what people told him. _

"_Come with me," the man said. He talked into his phone. "Hey, I got the kid." Démé was led into a dark limousine, just like his father's. Instead of going home, he was driven to a warehouse, and locked in a dog cage._

Démé put a pillow over his head, as if that would shut the memories out.

"_What did they do to you?"_

"_They locked me in a cage," Démé said boredly. _

"_Is that all? Did they give you any food?"_

"_No, not really. I got water sometimes. It tasted bad."_

"_Did they ever let you out of the cage?"_

"_No, never."_

"_Not even to go to the bathroom?" Démé shook his head._

"_If that happened to me or my son, I'd be very scared," the psychologist said. He paused for a long moment, waiting for Démé to respond. Démé chose not to._

"_How did you feel when you were released?"_

"_Hungry. Everything hurt. And, I wanted a bath."_

"_Were you happy to see your parents?"_

Démé was never happy to see his parents, especially his father. As a child, everyone told him to respect his parents, trust his parents, they had his best interests at heart. When he learned the truth, he felt vindicated, but it was an empty sort of triumph. Just knowing that he'd been _right _not to trust his father didn't and couldn't undo what had already been done.

That wouldn't bring his mother back to life.

"Stop it," he whispered. "Stop it- please-!"

Démé moaned in agony, and squeezed his eyes shut. _This can't be happening! Not now-_

Suddenly, his struggles stopped. His eyes stayed closed for a long time. They didn't open again until his phone rang, startling him awake. He reached over and grabbed it. This was his work phone. He flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Desmarais." His secretary's voice was even and professional, as always. "I trust today went well?"

"There were no problems." Démé stood, and walked over to the closet. He needed to decide what to wear. His secretary spoke.

"The Shinra Corporation has a job for you. Time is a priority. They'd like to know when you'll be able to meet, while you're in New York."

"Order a car. I'll go now."

"Very well, sir." She hung up without saying goodbye. She always did. Démé chose a dark red vest, and quickly dressed himself. He checked the mirror to fix his hair.

Dead eyes stared back at him.

* * *

HEY ALL YOU NERDS. LOLOL I MISSED ERASED'S 2ND BIRTHDAY BY TWO MONTHS OOPS. Oh well. ERASED: Come for the normal shit, stay for the Demyx/Selphie Tilmitt porn-lite. DEMYX/SELPHIE OTP!11 Selphie, man. It's just too funny to have her popping up everywhere. I'm sorry her little dog didn't make it into this chapter.

Anyway, this was meant to be Demyx's flashback chapter, but I added that little Zexion snippet at the top, for funsies. Just so you can see how his behavior is changing. I know I update super slow, so you may or may not remember Sora talking about the time Démé Desmarais came to New York and shut off all the plumbing and ZOMG it was the coolest shit ever, like, way back in chapter a-long-fucking-time-ago. Also, I do not for the life of me remember why I gave Demyx split personalities. I think it had to do with the scene where he attacks Sora and drops his cheery act with a "Silence, traitor." (And srsly, look up his French scenes on Youtube- "Silence, traitre" gave me chills. You'd make him French, too.)

I've been playing Persona 3 Portable lately. Le Champs de Fleurs is the name of the hotel that the Hierophant and Lovers shadow fights happen in. I just started a Persona 3 fic too, if you feel the need to read some ZOMG HETERO PORN. HETERO. WHAT.

For the extreme nerds among you, I have plans to go to both CTcon AND Otakon this year. Send me a message sometime before July if you're also going and you'd like to meet up. I'm surprisingly normal in person. No, seriously. You'd never guess that I write fan porn on the internet. I'm like a stealth pornographer. I don't know my cosplay yet beyond that I'm definitely going to be Kaylee Frye again, 'cause my friend and her brother are going as Inara and Wash.

You know I just write all these author notes because they're way more exciting than the actual fic. Tune in next time, when Demyx goes on Oprah to talk about his tragic tale of overcoming childhood abuse. Except he didn't so much overcome it as go batshit crazy and become a terrorist. But he leaves that part out. Oprah likes to keep shit uplifting.


	38. Chapter 38

**Erased - Chapter 38**

As he walked out into the main area of the church, Riku knew that Sora would be somewhere above him. He looked up and immediately saw two large white wings, feathers ruffled in agitation. Instead of sitting on his bed, Sora was perched precariously on one of the rafters. Cloud was nowhere to be seen.

"Sora?" he asked. Sora didn't even turn to look at him.

"Shh. Cloud's sleeping," he said. His voice was toneless.

"Oh, sorry," Riku said quickly, in a whisper. "I just wanted to know if you were hungry."

"Not really."

"And you haven't slept."

"Neither have you." Riku looked around, and noticed a few people missing.

"Where'd that girl go?"

"She put those two guys in the basement and left."

"This place has a basement?"

"Over there." Sora answered each statement and question mechanically. He pointed a single finger to indicate the door to the supposed basement, his wings hanging limp and drab at his sides. Riku sighed. Even if this is what Sora wanted at the moment, human decency wouldn't allow anyone to leave him like this.

"Come on. I'm making pasta. You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Sora repeated. Even if he had no appetite, Riku knew that his body had to be starving. They'd both made the same trek across town, after all, and Sora had been carrying unconscious bodies. He had to be exhausted, even if concern for Cloud had pushed his own needs out of his mind.

"Your brother's not going to get better just by you staring at him," said Riku. He knew he'd stepped over a line, because Sora's eyes narrowed. He spread his wings to take off again. Unfortunately, Sora's body was too weak for him to run away, and he stumbled, flapping his wings helplessly as he dropped moderately-slower-than-free-falling towards the floor. Riku barely caught him before he went crashing into the splintered pews.

He hadn't known Sora for very long, but he'd never seen him in this sorry state.

"Come on. Food." Riku roughly led Sora away from his unconscious brother and up to the second floor kitchen, a galley-style room that barely fit Sora's wings. A pot of water had just started to boil- quite a feat on the busted old stove- and Riku hurriedly dumped some cheap spaghetti inside. He was hungry, too, after all.

"How's Leon?" Sora asked, after a long silence.

"Um," Riku said awkwardly. "He's not going to die." Sora did not look especially thrilled with that response. Not that Riku could blame him.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not as good at treating wounds as he is. There's probably going to be a scar." He paused. "You don't think Leon's the one who-"

"No. He would never." His words were hostile, but Sora was right- there's no way Leon was the one to turn Cloud, when he refused to so much as touch human blood.

"You're right." He'd met Cloud not two weeks before, and the guy had been perfectly human, so he must have been turned recently. He just suffered a momentary loss of control, that was all.

Riku was familiar with them.

Nothing frightened him more than the thought that for one night a month, something else was controlling his body. Even now, the creature was pacing around its confines, waiting until it could be free again. He closed his eyes and counted the days.

The full moon was still a ways off. He was ok.

The pasta finished. Riku strained it and put some in a bowl for Sora, who stared at it as if it might try to eat him instead. To be fair, plain pasta wasn't the tastiest food in the world, but Riku hadn't been able to find much else in Leon's dismal kitchen, and there was certainly no tomato sauce or cheese. Another key ingredient was missing, too.

"I think Leon's out of blood," Riku said quietly. He saw Sora stiffen. "We'll have to get more before they wake up. I can go. Or we can send Vaan, he looks normal-"

"Stop it." Sora mumbled the words so quietly that Riku almost didn't hear him.

"What?"

"Stop it," Sora repeated. He gritted his teeth, and his voice rose. "Stop it!" he screeched. "Don't talk like you know everything! You're not in charge!"

"Sora-"

"Stop talking to me!" Riku watched, face blank, as Sora spun on his heel and stormed out, his wings battering the door jam as he left. He still hadn't eaten anything.

Well, _that _was a resounding success.

Vaan was still watching Leon in the other room. To put his mind off of his messy encounter with Sora, he decided to go relieve him of his duties. He supposed Vaan had to know something about treating the injured, but he didn't trust the boy to have a good bedside manner.

"Thanks for watching him, Vaan. There's pasta in the kitchen." Vaan nodded and stood.

"How's Sora?" Riku dodged Vaan's question with one of his own.

"And, could you go buy some blood for me? Well, not for me, but. You know. Sora doesn't want to deal with it. I don't blame him." Vaan frowned.

"Where do I go?"

"There must be a butcher or something nearby, or Leon wouldn't live here. Just ask around. I'll give you some money. Please."

"Ok." Riku dug out his wallet and gave Vaan the last of the American money he had on him- not enough to buy much of a food supply, but it would do for the moment- and all but shoved him out the door. Well, that was one problem solved. Riku took stock of their situation.

As of right then, they had eight people living in the church. Three of them were highly wanted escapees. Two were unconscious vampires. Riku and Sora were exhausted and unable to go outside, and who knew why Vaan was even still there. All eight of them were Others. The food was limited to the stale pasta Riku currently had sitting on the stove. Somehow, Leon had managed to finagle running water, so at least they had that. He didn't know how much money everyone had, but he was certain it wasn't much.

At this rate, they were going to have to resort to stealing.

Riku scooped up his own bowl of pasta and munched on it thoughtfully. He just wasn't cut out to take responsibility for other people. Werewolves were loners by nature.

_Please wake up soon, Leon, _he thought with a sigh.

"Hey. Riku?"

Sora was standing in the doorway, his wings limp and his face expressionless. His bangs covered his eyes.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"That's ok." Sora didn't look like anything was ok. Riku tried his best to understand what his friend- they were friends, right?- was feeling. "Look," he said softly, "Leon knows more about vampires than anyone I've met. If anyone can help your brother out, it's him."

"You can't stop being a vampire," Sora bit out. Riku winced.

"I know. I just mean- Leon can make it not so bad." The thought between them- _there's no "not so bad" for vampires- _was left unsaid. Leon's extremely unconscious body didn't help any. Sora's wings ruffled.

"I'm hungry now."

"There's still pasta." They walked into the kitchen. This time, Sora carefully folded his wings to stop from hitting the walls. Riku scooped some into the last clean bowl, stuck a spoon in it, and handed it to Sora. The two of them ate silently, and without enthusiasm. There wasn't anything to be enthusiastic about with pasta, really. Riku thought back longingly on his mom's cooking, or even the super cheap take-out place down the street from his house. He'd be sure to thank everyone he knew a million times over when he got home.

Suddenly, Riku remembered a trick Yuffie taught him. If you're eating something you don't like, just imagine it's something you do like. Her voice rang in his head.

_It totally works! I can make veggies taste like candy._

_Not all of us love sugar as much as you do, _had been his smart reply. Still, her trick was worth a shot. Sora looked miserable.

"What's your favorite food?" he asked. Sora looked surprised by the question, but he answered it.

"Fruit. Anything with fruit," he said wistfully. Suddenly it occurred to Riku that he couldn't remember seeing a single piece of fruit anywhere since he landed in New York. "Whenever we could afford it, Cloud would bring me some," Sora continued. "What's yours?"

"Meat. The rarer the better," Riku grinned, but even as he said it, he felt a hunger swirl up inside of him that he quickly had to repress. "But who knows what it would be if, um, you know."

"You weren't a werewolf?"

The words were blunt and abrupt. The way Sora said it reeked of bitterness. He gave Riku the impression that he would _never _say the words out loud if he weren't feeling so miserable, and also that Sora wasn't really thinking of Riku at all.

"Yeah. That. I haven't heard anyone say it out loud like that in a while," he said truthfully. "Usually everyone's very hush-hush about it, as if I didn't already know, or something."

"I've never met one before."

"We tend to keep to ourselves."

"So _you've_ met other werewolves?" Riku paused for a moment and thought of how to answer. Werewolves had their own ways of, well, finding each other. He wasn't sure Sora needed to hear about the details.

The decidedly non-PG details.

"Well… my dad," he answered eventually. "He's sort of a weird case because he was already an Other before he got turned. And he passed on the lycanthropy to me. Apparently it affects the genes or the sperm or something."

"Weird," Sora said, but his cheeks had gone pink at the mention of werewolf sperm. Apparently Cloud hadn't gone to great lengths to teach him about how babies are made.

"Yep, I've had it since birth. Most wolves don't have hair this pretty," he said, to change the topic. He flipped his long silver hair. That just made Sora's blush deepen.

Riku suddenly and inappropriately remembered the dream he had the night before. He begged the universe to ease the awkwardness.

"Is it- scary?" Sora stammered out. For a horrifying instant, Riku thought he was talking about sex. "Um, you know. When-" Sora trailed off, but he did a cute little snarl and made claw shapes with his hands.

Oh, thank God he was talking about turning into a wolf. Never before had Riku been grateful for a chance to talk about the process by which he turned into a vicious animal once a month.

"It's hard to explain." He frowned. "It's sort of like going to sleep, if going to sleep made all your bones break and your organs change shape. So, it hurts a lot, but then you just… disappear. For a few hours, you're gone and it's all wolf." He thought for a moment. "It's kind of like going under anesthesia."

"What's anesthesia?"

"Um, when you have surgery- never mind," he said. Sora's New York didn't seem like the type of place where anyone would bother to put you under before cutting you open. He continued. "And then you're you again, but you're weak and in pain and you're probably seriously injured in some way and someone's waiting to tell you all the horrible things the wolf did while you were gone." Sora took in this information.

"That sounds like total shit," he declared. Riku couldn't help laughing.

"And I don't even get to fly," he said ruefully.

"Does it have a name?"

Riku didn't quite understand the question.

"What?"

"Does it have a name," Sora repeated. "The wolf. You should give it some totally stupid, wussy name. Like Chad. No one can really be afraid of something named Chad."

Riku blinked. He'd never thought to _name _the wolf before.

"No, I never even thought about naming it. I mean, do your wings have names?" Riku expected the answer to be _no, of course not, _and was surprised when Sora looked away, a hint of embarrassment showing in his face.

"Well," he began slowly, "when I was younger I gave them some." He gave Riku a look, daring him to laugh. "This one is Mr. Fluff and this one is Wingsby." He moved each wing in turn to show which one was which. "Maybe it's because I wasn't allowed to have real pets or something."

"No, it's not a bad idea. We can give the wolf a name." Sora perked up immediately, as if handing out names was his favorite thing in the world.

"So, what are you going to call it?" he asked excitedly. "How about something, you know, descriptive? Like Stinky, or Uggs?"

"Uggs?"

"For ugly. Or you could name it after a delicate flower. Like Lily, or Violet, or- ooo- Marigold."

"I think I'll stick with Chad," Riku laughed. "You named him, now it's stuck." A sinister presence lurked on the borders of his mind. "I think Chad likes it."

"It's weird that you have this whole other _thing_ inside of you all the time."

"Well, it's not like it's another person or anything. It's like- you know when you get so mad or so upset that you don't know what you're doing? It's like that, only worse, and on a schedule. And with more hair."

"Ew."

"Sometimes it doesn't go away completely. You might have to help me shave my back." Sora made a face.

"_Gross_."

The mention of back-shaving pretty much killed the conversation, Sora and Riku finished the last of their cold, undercooked pasta and washed their dishes. Once all of the pots and spoons and bowls were put away, Sora turned back to Riku.

"I want to go outside. Wanna come with?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Riku had ridden Sora all over town- in a non-sexual way, of course- but he still felt his face get hot as Sora grabbed him and flew them both up to the top of the church. They paused for an instant on a rafter across from where Cloud was still sleeping before flying out through the hole in the roof. The sudden burst of natural light was intense but not unmanageable.

Sora deposited Riku on the roof, but his body was still half-turned back towards the entrance to the church. Cloud was sleeping only a few feet below them.

"Maybe I should check on Cloud," he said, so quietly that Riku assumed he wasn't supposed to hear. He responded anyway.

"You've barely been away from him for ten minutes. He's going to be ok," he said firmly. Well, not "ok," no one like them was ever really "ok." But Sora was moping over him as if he were dead. All the moping was the issue, here.

Sora didn't answer right away.

"You don't understand," he said finally. "Cloud's my brother, and he was normal." The amount of hope Sora placed in the word _normal _was heart-breaking. "If my brother can be normal, then-"

"You know that's not possible." Riku cut him off dismissively. He couldn't stand listening to Sora be so sad.

"I know! I know it's stupid," Sora muttered. "I'm stupid." Riku sighed.

"You're not stupid," he said. "My mom's normal, too. I mean- not an Other," he corrected. "She fell in love with my dad despite everything. They never planned to have a kid, though. I was a total accident. But all the pregnancy check-ups were fine, so they went along with it. The way everyone tells it, there was no indication that I was an Other when I was born. I didn't even start transforming until I was eight."

"I was normal as a kid, too, until these started growing." He ruffled his wings. "It was kind of exciting at first, but they kept getting bigger and I kept hoping they would stop. Cloud was the only one who knew. Even my parents never found out before they died."

"My mom never complains about it, but I bet she hates taking care of werewolves. We have this whole cage set-up installed in our basement. You'd think it was awesome."

"It sounds awesome!"

"Not as awesome as sleeping in the rafters of an abandoned church! Seriously, my friend Yuffie won't believe half the stuff I've seen here."

"You have friends?" Sora sounded genuinely surprised. Riku was about to get offended, but then he thought better of it.

"Her dad is my dad's doctor. And mine too, I guess," he explained. "She's an Other- she can totally turn invisible whenever she wants to, like a real-life ninja." Sora's eyes widened.

"God!" he said. "Why didn't I get something cool?"

"Being able to fly is pretty cool," Riku countered. Sora frowned.

"Not as cool as turning invisible," he muttered petulantly.

"My dad can teleport. Like, straight-up teleport from one place to another, like in comic books. But I only got the crappy diseased werewolf genes," Riku shrugged. "So don't feel too bad. I mean, remember the slime guy?"

Both of them took an instant to remember the man they met in Lowtown whose entire body was made of viscous goo. Well, it was probably a man. Maybe.

They both shuddered.

"Ugh," Sora said with a grimace. "He was nasty."

"Right? At least your entire body isn't made of ooze." Sora nodded, his expression solemn.

"True story," he agreed.

"I mean, just think of that dude trying to have sex," Riku laughed. Sora shuddered. No one wanted to imagine a pile of slime making love to anyone. Or, at the very least, the people who did probably had some issues.

His own mention of sex, though, dragged Riku's mind back to his dream from the night before. He hadn't exactly, you know, _gotten physical_ with anyone in a long time.

When he was fifteen, Riku caught a very unusual scent. He was in the habit of leaving his window open, since that was nearly the only way he could ever come close to going outside. By that age, he was very good at identifying all of the smells of his neighborhood, and he could always tell when someone on the block bought a new car or repainted their house.

This time, though, he had no idea what he was smelling.

The best word he could think of to describe it was _natural_- sensuous and earthy and very out of place in the quiet suburb where he lived. Where his usual world consisted of pavement and concrete and small, carefully maintained gardens, this scent was all running through ancient forests and chasing down prey and making love on warm grass at night.

Riku flushed red as he realized he was both entranced and aroused by it. The heavy layer of _sex_ in the smell was unmistakable, and for all that it was unlikely, he felt that the strange odor was somehow a message for him.

It was completely irresistible.

After locking his bedroom door and pulling on a hoodie to cover his hair, Riku climbed out of his window and set off towards the source at an anxious jog. He ran for what felt like an impossibly long time, but he'd figure out later was less than thirty minutes. The houses in his little town disappeared behind him as he ran straight into the bordering woods. Riku ran faster as the smell got stronger.

He broke into the clearing looking hot and bothered and thoroughly deranged.

A number of faces turned to look at him.

Every one of them was a werewolf.

Riku knew it immediately, by smell and by sight. The group had an even-ish number of men and women, with varying amounts of silver running through their hair. A female wolf was staring at him with a particular intensity, and suddenly, Riku realized what the smell that had so enthralled him really was.

He was so embarrassed he wanted to die.

It wasn't long before the shock wore off and the wolves began to talk among themselves. They didn't bother to whisper. Riku felt like he had a spotlight on his face.

"Ain't he a little, you know… young?"

"Look at his hair. He musta been bit as a kid."

"He still _is _a kid!"

"Hey, kid! How old're you?" Nearly the whole crowd was speaking at once, and Riku nearly missed the question. They had a variety of accents, more than one of which was most definitely foreign.

"Fifteen, sir," he said meekly.

"So polite!"

"See? Fifteen's plenty old enough- he found his way here, didn't he?"

"Did you come to join us?"

"What's your name?"

"Shimizu Riku," he mumbled.

"Adorable." Before he even realized anyone was nearby, some woman had her arm around him. She looked older than his mother. "Don't worry- we won't hurt ya." Her accent was thick, but she shouted something at the rest of the crowd that sounded suspiciously similar to _don't anyone tear up the new meat._

He had an uncomfortable feeling that _he_ was the new meat.

His apprehensions were confirmed when Riku found himself being shoved at a crowd of female wolves, though they were thankfully much closer to his own age. It all happened terribly fast. The smell was much stronger here, and he was killing himself trying to ignore it.

"You're so cute!" one of them squealed. Hands were all over him. Someone was squeezing his butt. His face was on fire. He tried to protest, though his voice was miserably weak, and it cracked in the middle, like a pre-teen.

"W-why are you-"

"Huh?" The girl standing directly in front of him looked down at him, a confused expression on her face. "Isn't this why you came here? I mean- can't you smell it?"

That stupid smell again.

Riku's face was mere inches away from the female werewolf's neck. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Her scent rushed into his skull and into his mouth and he could taste her and it stirred something up in his stomach and he knew then that he didn't ever want to leave.

He gave in.

Riku's face grew hot as he realized he was internally reliving his first time while sitting not a foot away from someone. Sora's scent wasn't nearly as intoxicating as straight-up wolf pheromones, but it was similar- probably because of the feathers.

_God, _he hadn't had sex in a long time.

Long gone were the days of sneaking out to rendezvous with other werewolves. He wouldn't call any of them his "friends," and it wasn't long before he figured out that they didn't do much besides, well, you know. Male, female, it didn't matter. They liked him because he was young and civilized and unblemished- a novelty.

They told him that they loved each other because no one else would.

_No one could ever love a werewolf._

He knew that was wrong, of course. His parents were an immediate counterexample. But after years of being locked up in his house, of only ever seeing Yuffie, of needing to disguise himself to so much as go to the store, it was hard to believe he'd ever live anything close to a normal life. Was he doomed to turn into a near-feral, sex-crazed animal like the other wolves he met? And if he did meet some nice girl and settle down- did he really want to risk creating more kids like himself? Living with the virus every day since he was conceived had almost certainly made him sterile, but was he willing to chance it?

Riku felt a pang of the loneliness he'd been trying ignore since landing in New York. He thought of his mother, alone in their house with nothing but a note from a son she may never see again. He wondered what Yuffie and her parents were doing.

"Riku? Are you ok?"

Sora was looking up at him, all round blue eyes and messy brown hair and fluffy white feathers. His face was full of genuine concern. His scent was sneaking into Riku's brain.

Sora was cute. Riku was lonely. He wasn't really thinking about it.

Riku leaned down and kissed Sora, square on the mouth.

Sora's entire body stiffened, and Riku immediately knew that he'd made a mistake. He pulled away. He tried to hide it, but his embarrassment was already showing on his face.

"Uh," he said. "Sorry."

"S'okay," Sora mumbled. He looked even more embarrassed than Riku felt. His wings were crunched against his body and fluffed up, as if he were trying to hide and keep himself warm all at once. His eyes were fixated on the ground. Riku felt like the worst person alive.

"Um, it's not-"

"I mean-"

They both started speaking at the same time, and stopped again. The awkwardness was like a fist closing around Riku's throat. He was just about set to jump back down into the church and risk breaking both legs when Sora did something very unexpected indeed.

He kissed Riku back.

Suddenly Riku's life was all feathers and sloppy lips. He was so surprised that he didn't do anything, either. But Sora was so earnest and so confused that before long, Riku broke into a giggle.

If Sora had looked embarrassed earlier, _now _he looked like he wanted to burst into flames. Their faces were barely an inch apart, and Riku could feel the heat from Sora's blush. But now, knowing that Sora kind of wanted the same thing that he kind of wanted, his confidence began to come back.

"Just do what I do," he said, in a voice he hoped was reassuring. He pressed his lips- no tongue, not yet- against Sora's, and set a slow rhythm. Cute inexperience fell into exciting reciprocity within seconds. Sora was a quick learner. Riku barely realized that he was leaning into the kiss until he was so far forward that he could barely keep himself upright.

"Mind if I come a little closer?" he whispered into Sora's cheek. Sora nodded quickly, as if he were afraid that if he said anything, Riku would leave.

Well, there was no way _that _was happening.

Riku crawled forward until he was close enough to go back to the kissing without twisting his body into an impossible position. Sora shifted to accommodate him. Riku leaned forward onto his left hand, resting barely an inch from Sora's hip. Almost silently, Sora's wings folded forward, wrapping them both in a feathery wall to shield them from the outside world. And just like that, the gritty rooftop disappeared. New York disappeared.

All that was left was Sora.

His natural scent combined with the smell of the feathers was overwhelming. Conflicting ideas were going off in Riku's brain, leaving him at his core vaguely confused as to whether he wanted to screw Sora or eat him up. Luckily, he didn't have very much time to think about it.

Riku tentatively tried to deepen the kiss and was rewarded with Sora's whole tongue being pushed into his mouth. This time, though, Sora was more focused, and the sensation wasn't unpleasant. Riku responded in kind, giving in ever-so-slightly to his aggressive nature. His teeth grazed Sora's lip. He resisted the urge to bite.

His right hand was still sort of hanging at his side, so he decided to put it to work. Riku leaned closer and rested his hand on Sora's waist. He could feel the reaction through his fingertips. Tiny flickers of tension passed through Sora's muscles as he absorbed Riku's touch.

The two of them stayed that way for a long while. They kissed until Riku's jaw ached and his lips were numb. When they broke apart for the last time, their noses were still touching. Riku didn't want to stop. He wanted to touch Sora until his skin rubbed off.

"I'm so tired," Sora said finally. He cracked a smile. "Sorry. Is that lame?"

"Depends. Am I a good kisser?"

"Don't get cocky," Sora said. Riku blinked. "Cocky"- he didn't know that word. Loathe as he was to admit it, Sora was smiling at him, and he had no idea how to react. He was pretty sure that "cock" was a slang term for his, well… you know.

"Um," he said carefully. "Is that a sexual thing?"

Sora, who had been strangely tense, stared at him for a good few seconds.

Then, he burst out laughing. Though he should have been embarrassed for getting it wrong, Riku was only relieved to see Sora's smile again.

_Oh, _he thought. _Crap. That's probably a bad sign._

"No, it's not a sexual thing," Sora giggled. "It's like- having an attitude. Thinking you're all that and a bag of chips." The chips made Riku more confused.

"Like, potato chips?"

"No!" Sora laughed harder. "Man, I need to use slang around you more often." He tilted his head to one side, a gesture that was almost unbearably cute. "You don't have an accent, so I forget that English isn't your first language."

"Thanks?"

"No prob," Sora chirped, seemingly unaware that Riku's reply had contained some mild sarcasm. It wasn't like he didn't have good reason not to notice the little things- he was clearly so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open.

"You should get some sleep," Riku suggested quietly. Sora nodded in agreement while he worked up the energy to reply with words.

"I don't want to go back in there," he said. "I'll sleep up here. I've done it before."

"You shouldn't stay up here by yourself."

"You can stay too, if you want."

"Ok." Going to sleep was a bit of an ordeal for Sora. Like the night before, Riku watched as Sora carefully lowered himself onto his stomach, folding his wings to keep them from getting caught in anything. Once Sora was comfortable, Riku lay down on his back, not close enough to be touching, but close enough that he couldn't stop listening to Sora breathe.

Sora was asleep almost instantly.

Riku, meanwhile, lay awake, thinking, or trying not to think, about what had just happened. The sky was still that same hazy yellow that it had been when he'd arrived, with the heavy mechanical air pollution cleaning whatevers hanging low above the city. He was beginning to think he was just going to lie there all afternoon when one of sleeping Sora's giant wings gently lay itself across Riku's body, protecting him from the sun.

Smiling, he closed his eyes. He could get used to this.

* * *

ERASED LIIIIIIIVVVEEEEEESSSSSSS!

Dude, seriously? I didn't really plan to put a werewolf orgy in this chapter. Originally there was just a little paragraph that was like "lol Riku used to have werewolf sex with werewolves" and then I was like, you know what? NO. FLASHBACK. DEAL WITH IT. Also, a fun outline tidbit: originally, Riku's Sex Partner From The Past was going to be Kadaj. I just wanted to write Riku/Kadaj porn. But that's kind of weird, sooooo...

MORE IMPORTANTLY: OMG Kingdom Hearts 3DS looks amazing and you all should get it. If you don't have a 3DS, buy one of those, too. Otherwise just watch all of the cutscenes online and have your MIND BLOWN and also enjoy the fanservice.

Q OF THE DAY: Whose POV do you hope to see in the next chapter? (I already know what I'm writing, I just like to see what people like. :) )


	39. Chapter 39

WHAAAAT TWO UPDATES WITHIN TWO WEEKS WHAT IS THIS

I was very intrigued by the results of our very non-scientific "Who do you want to see next?" poll. I will share the results with everyone because I can. I basically counted every mention-by-name as a vote, so if you said "OMG I WANT TO HEAR FROM KAIRI BUT OOOHHH I LOVE SORA AND RIKU IS MY FAVORITE," that's one vote each for Kairi, Sora, and Riku. Very non-scientific.

DEMYX was the winner, with 3 votes. Runners-up were ZEXION, ROXAS, VAAN, NAMINE, KAIRI, AND CLOUD, with two votes each. KYTES, MJRN, and PENELO ("team FF12") each got 1 vote, along with ANYONE FROM THE ACADEMY. There were two requests for some hawt ZEMYX, and one request for CLEON.

AND THE WINNER IS:

Fuck you people, you get Axel. Oh, and I guess some Roxas too. ;)

For the record, there isn't any official pattern except what's necessary for the story to move forward, so it's not like it's actually possible to guess, and I change things I've planned at the last minute all the time. I'm just happy people mentioned such a wide variety of characters. If everyone had been like "Fuck this shit I only read for Sora everything else blows" I would have been Concerned.

* * *

**Erased - Chapter 39**

Roxas woke up, warm and content, the way he usually did. Axel's arm was draped over his waist in a sort of half-snuggle. Roxas had long since gotten used to the unusual amount of heat coming off Axel's body, and in fact now needed to be very warm to fall asleep. He didn't mind, though, since Axel shared his bunk every single night.

For whatever reason, he was less confused when Axel was around.

In a matter of minutes, Axel began to stir. He was always kind of slow in the mornings. When he looked at Roxas, his eyes were barely open.

"Good morning, Roxas," he said.

"_Good morning, Rock."_

"_Guten morgen, Alexei."_

"_You really need to get better at English, Nish."_

"_No English," Roxas said cutely, and he stuck out his tongue. He was extremely naked, stretched out on the bed of yet another trashy hotel. There was still dried cum on his legs that he hadn't bothered to wash off. The whole room stank of it. Axel sighed and flopped down on the bed._

"_I guess that's not happening." Roxas shrugged._

_What he hadn't told Axel, though, was that he __**had **__been practicing his English. _

_It was a commonly enough spoken language, and similar enough to German, that he was able to build a basic vocabulary pretty quickly. Given that Axel only ever talked about sex and food, it was pretty easy to follow what he was saying. Watching him try to explain himself through gesture was more fun, though._

"_At least you don't have to learn Russian, right? Russian is harder than English. English is easy." _

_Yes, English was easy. Roxas agreed with him, but didn't say anything about it._

"_Do you want to eat breakfast?" _

_Roxas blinked at him, slowly, excited for what was coming next._

"_Breakfast," Axel groaned. "Break. Fast. Food." With a resigned sigh, he began pantomiming eating a meal. Roxas watched politely until Axel had finished pouring his coffee and buttering his toast._

"_Ah!" he said, as if he'd just had a burst of recognition. "Fruhstück." Axel groaned and rolled his eyes. _

"_I hope that means breakfast, because-"_

"I'm hungry."

Roxas blinked.

"I'm _hungry_," Axel said, with more emphasis. He nudged Roxas to make him get up so they could shower and get dressed and go to the cafeteria with the others. Marluxia was already gone. Roxas tried to sort out his thoughts.

It wasn't really possible that he'd just had two conversations with Axel at the same time, but if he had to describe what had just happened, that was it. Present-Axel, the one in the bed with him, had been talking to him about breakfast. The other Axel was also talking about breakfast. Other-Axel was the one he decided to focus on.

Other-Axel was unmistakably Axel- they even had the same tattoos. He was _different _from Present-Axel, though. His voice was funny, for one. And his eyes- they were flashy and energetic in a way that Present-Axel couldn't hope to imitate.

Present-Axel was still trying to get out of bed.

"Come on- move it-"

"Axel," said Roxas. Axel stopped nudging him long enough to listen. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Are there two of you?"

Axel stared.

"Of course not," he said bluntly. "That's ridiculous."

"That's ridiculous," Roxas repeated. Unsatisfied with that answer, he nonetheless stood and allowed Axel to drag him into the showers. The rest of the group were already there. Marluxia and Larxene were standing a little too close. Saïx and Luxord were in opposite corners.

"Stand still," Axel told him, and Roxas obligingly stood underneath one of the showerheads and waited for the water to clean him. He looked at Axel's naked body.

It happened again.

"_You're so dirty," Axel whispered. He was leaning down, his lips pressed against Roxas's ear. He'd already grabbed a sponge and some trashy-hotel-brand soap. It smelled terrible. Roxas couldn't keep his nose from wrinkling up._

"_If you don't like it, you shouldn't have made such a mess." Without so much as a warning, he grabbed Roxas by the asscheek and began scrubbing between his legs. Well, scrubbing was the wrong word. It didn't feel bad or anything, it was just undignified._

_Washing him like this was something Aerith would do._

"_Stopp!" he laughed. And much to his surprise, Axel stopped._

"_Did you just- Nish, was that English?"_

"_Eh?" Roxas asked him, confused. He hadn't expected Axel to understand him, much less actually listen. And he certainly hadn't been speaking in English. Well, unless-_

"_Warum hast du gestoppt? Bist du ok?" he asked innocently. Axel groaned and ran a hand through his sopping-wet hair._

"_Stupid German," he muttered. "All the words are the same." Roxas raised an eyebrow._

"_Dann vielleicht solltest du es lernen."_

"_Never. German is the worst," Axel sniffed. Roxas let out a laugh that sounded strangely close to a boyish giggle. It was weird, being close to someone and only understanding about half of what he said. But whenever they got it right, it felt great._

_He wished they could have a normal conversation for once._

_Well, someday._

Roxas came back to the present when the showers turned off and Axel was handing him some clean clothes. Somewhere in the middle there, he had been washed. Probably by Axel. Who was also washing him in either the future, past, or some sort of alternate present.

He tried to express his concerns to the only person he could think of to ask.

"Are you sure there's not two of you?"

"I'm sure." Axel might have rolled his eyes a bit. It reminded Roxas of Other-Axel. "Why do you keep asking me that?" he asked. Roxas tried to think of a good way to explain it.

"You talk to me but I don't understand some of the words," he said. Axel looked at him, and his expression slowly changed from exasperation to concern. He crouched down in front of Roxas's face and spoke slowly and loudly.

"Do you understand me right now?" he asked seriously. Roxas stifled a giggle, just like he'd done when he'd spoken to Other-Axel.

"No, I understand you," he said. "It's Other-You. And it's not what he says, it's what I say." He hoped that was enough to explain what was happening, but apparently it wasn't, since Axel just sort of looked disappointed.

"Roxas, I don't understand _you_ right now," he muttered. Roxas tried to explain again.

"I've been having dreams."

"Where there are two of me and you can't understand yourself?" When Axel said it that way, it just made him more confused. Dreams meant you had to be asleep, after all, and he was pretty sure he wasn't asleep.

"Maybe," he said slowly. "I don't know." While he was lost in thought, Axel shuffled him down to the end of the dining table and sat him down. Sitting at the end of the table with just Axel was kind of lonely, but he couldn't explain why.

"Eat something." Axel shoved a plate down the table. Roxas looked down at the unusual goop that was presented to him. Everything looked the same. He poked it with a finger.

"No, Roxas," Axel sighed. "You're supposed to use a spoon. Like this."

"Spoon," Roxas repeated. The word sounded funny. "Spoon- spoon-"

"_Löffel." Roxas waved the utensil from side to side before setting it down next to his plate. Satisfied that he'd taught Axel the names for each part of the place settings, he moved on to furniture. First, he tapped the table._

"_Tisch."_

_Then, he ran his hand along the back of his chair. _

"_Stuhl." _

"_I won't learn German," Axel said stiffly. "It won't happen."_

"_Ger-man," Roxas repeated, in a heavy accent. He corrected Axel with the word in his own language. "Deutsch." He pointed to himself. "Deutscher." He pointed to Axel. "Russischer."_

"_This isn't going to work, Rock."_

"This isn't going to work. You're holding it backwards." Axel roughly pulled the spoon out of his hand and turned it around, sticking the spoon end back into the porridge. Roxas stared, vaguely confused by the sudden movement.

_This isn't going to work._

"This isn't going to work," he repeated.

"No, it's not. So why don't you-"

"This isn't going to work!" Roxas shouted the words for a second time and stood up abruptly, spilling his porridge all over the table. Even the students at the other end of the table noticed the commotion. Half of an idea was swirling in Roxas's mind, and he tried desperately to focus on it, to piece it together into a complete thought that would tell him what was going on. Axel tried to interrupt him.

"Roxas-"

"Shh!" Roxas snapped. Axel looked surprised. Other-Axel disappeared. He had to go find him. The flood of sudden and foreign thoughts that invaded his mind were confusing and powerful, like a package bundle of information that had been dumped inside of him and left to him to sort out.

_The data. The evidence. I have to follow it._

It didn't help that the information he'd received from himself was accompanied by a flood of stormy emotions that he recognized the same way you recognize someone in a picture whose name you've forgotten.

_That stupid arrogant prick! I told him to be careful, I told him about the danger, I tried to tell him how I fucking feel about him, and all Douchey Mc Douchebag can do is say "Oh, don't worry about me, Rock, blah blah I'm a fuckwit" and fucking disappear and I don't know where the fuck he is and he's probably in trouble and hurt or worse and why does that hurt __**me**__ so bad? _

Months of sleepless nights. Months of planning and keeping secrets. He was desperate, a man possessed. The only thing he'd ever loved had been stolen from him, and he _was_ going to get it back.

_I figured it out. I know where they took him._

_I'm going to New York. _

He didn't understand all of the words, and he definitely didn't understand any of the emotions, but he knew they were his. He and Other-Roxas were aligned. Other-Roxas's thoughts were his thoughts. The world Other-Roxas lived in was strange, but Roxas struggled to follow along-

"Roxas!" Axel grabbed his arm. "Sit down, everyone's staring-"

"_I'm not crazy!" _Roxas screamed. The volume and intensity surprised even him. Axel recoiled. The stares intensified. His fingertips were crackling with energy, but he couldn't tell if they were _actually _crackling or if it were just an emotion.

"Roxas," said Axel. His voice held a warning, and a tiny bit of fear. Roxas ignored him.

"I am _not crazy_!_" _he shouted again. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular. He just felt a desperate need to say the words out loud.

"Something's wrong," he whispered. "Why do these things keep happening to me? It's everywhere-"

"Roxas, _what _is everywhere?" Axel stood up and moved to restrain him. Roxas glared up at him. For some reason, Axel's stupid face filled him with more fury than someone his size should rightfully channel.

"You're supposed to help me!" he shouted. "I came to you and instead of helping me, you keep me trapped here!"

"Trapped _where_?"

"Stop touching me- why don't you see-"

"Roxas-"

"Stop-"

"Roxas-"

"Roxas."

Axel's voice disappeared. It was replaced with a gentle female one. Roxas looked up, and his eyes fell on a girl his own age, with soft blonde hair.

He recognized her- it was Naminé.

"_You _again!"

"Calm down," she said. "You are going to hurt yourself." The stern tone in her voice was unexpected. She sounded, well, _motherly. _It was enough to make Roxas pause, but not for long.

"I'm going to hurt _you_," he snapped instead. When he tried to lunge at her, though, he found that his legs refused to move. He couldn't take even the smallest step forward. Naminé stared at him with a placid expression.

"I cannot let you," she said. Roxas snarled at her, a deep, animalistic sound that surprised him.

"Why are you here? Where's Axel?" he hissed. A flood of foreign emotions were pouring through him, causing his frozen muscles to shake with rage. Words were failing him. He was caged beast, thrashing against his confines, hungry for release.

"I separated you before something bad happened." Naminé's answer was as cryptic as Roxas had come to expect.

"Something bad?" he asked incredulously. When he tried to move again, he found himself still held in place. Something was keeping him there, both rooted to the ground and at a safe distance from Naminé. It was as if hands were grasping his whole body, gentle, but firm. Roxas shut his eyes and relied on his body's instincts.

The force was most definitely supernatural. _Other_, his mind supplied. This energy was very familiar, and he recognized it as the weird feeling that had been dogging him for as long as he could remember. He could feel it wrapped around his body, and with practice he didn't know he had, he reached out towards the source.

He found it a bit quicker than he'd been expecting.

"It's you," he said, with unhidden surprise. "You're the source of that energy I keep feeling!"

"I am," said Naminé. She said the words blandly, without the slightest hint of remorse for what they meant.

Roxas snapped.

"What are you doing to me?" he roared. He launched himself at Naminé one last time, and this time, he broke free of her grip. Glittering blades appeared in both his hands and he stabbed with deadly force. By the time he'd struck, though, Naminé was gone. She reappeared behind him, but by the time he'd noted her new position, she'd reestablished her hold on him. Her eyes shone with her strength.

"Soon it will no longer be important."

"I don't believe you," Roxas spat. Actual spittle flew out of his mouth, he was so angry.

"I did not expect you to."

"Tell me- what's happening to me?"

"Describe your symptoms," she said. Roxas gritted his teeth- shouldn't she already _know _his symptoms?- but obliged her.

"I keep seeing this person who looks like Axel," he said. "It happens at the strangest times. I don't know what's going on." He decided to leave out some of the details, like the unintelligible words that poured out of his own mouth.

"You are seeing your memories."

Bullshit.

"_My_ memories?" The Axel in his visions was no man he'd ever met, he was sure of it. Though if he thought about it, _really _thought about it, all the thinking gave him a severe headache.

"From a previous life," she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She continued before Roxas could complain. "Axel is very important to you," she murmured. "You should not be so mean to him."

_Axel is very important to me. _Roxas knew the words to be true, but he pressed Naminé for clarification anyway. Her admonition to be nicer tugged at his heart, though he'd never admit it.

"Important to me?" For the first time, a flash of uncertainty passed over Naminé's face, as if she weren't sure how to explain it. When she spoke, it was halting and slow.

"You were best friends once," she said finally. "You would do anything for him. Your presence here is proof of that."

_I'm here for Axel? _What, exactly, did that mean? No matter how he tried, though, there was no other way to interpret what Naminé had said. _I'm here for Axel. _Well, it certainly hadn't turned out that way, had it? He was barely able to put his pants on by himself, and Axel was forced to wait on him hand and foot like some sort of goddamn invalid.

"I don't understand," he snapped. "I don't understand any of it. This isn't natural."

"You are correct."

"So why don't you just, you know, _stop_? Stop doing whatever sadistic crap it is that you're doing?"

"The situation is not that simple," she said. Again, her face was perfectly blank, without the slightest hint of regret or sadness or anything else. But even so, beneath that mechanical exterior, Roxas could sense some sort of humanity about her.

"Isn't it, though?" he pressed. Naminé's eyes widened, and for an instant, her face was consumed by an emotion Roxas knew too well.

Guilt.

The moment was gone as soon as it had come, and Naminé resumed her motherly tone.

"Enough. You will damage yourself if you continue. Such strong emotion is dangerous here." It was the strangest thing she'd said yet. Her warning about emotions was so unusual that he almost missed the part where she'd warned him about being damaged. Not hurt, damaged. Who _said _that? But more importantly-

"Where is _here_?"

"You look tired."

"Where are we?"

"You should rest."

Roxas struggled against the confines. The information that his subconscious- his old memories- had forced onto him tumbled around his head. Names of places he didn't recognize swirled around violently in his mind until one of them popped onto his tongue.

"New York," he said.

Naminé's expression was blank.

"New York," he said again, louder, enjoying the sound and feel of the words. New York was important to him. That knowledge gave him confidence. "I have to get there. I have to get to New York. Or did I make it already? Please- please just tell me if I made it there. It's important," he begged, his voice reaching a fever pitch. "I need to find- I _need_ to find-"

_Alexei._

Naminé stared at him, silent and impassive. When she spoke, it was three short words.

"Go to sleep."

By the time Roxas realized that she wasn't going to give him a choice, it was already too late.

* * *

One minute, Axel was desperately trying to subdue Roxas, who'd broken out into surprisingly articulate hysterics.

The next minute, Roxas crumpled into Axel's arms, totally unconscious.

"Roxas?" he asked uncertainly. No response. He gave him a little shake, even though something deep in his brain told him that was a terrible idea. Roxas flopped about, completely unresponsive. He was still breathing, though, so at least he wasn't dead.

The rest of his classmates were still watching the spectacle that had unfolded. Luxord was the first to speak.

"It's ok," he said. "He's awake on the inside."

"Oh, _shut up, _Luxord," drawled Larxene.

Axel was still staring, dumbfounded, at Roxas's body, even after everyone else left to go to class. He didn't realize that Professor Éniman was right beside him until she spoke.

"You can take him back to the dormitories," she said. "You don't have to come to class today." Axel's first reaction was a twist of guilt and fear- did that mean she knew they'd been sleeping in the same bed? Wait, why should he feel bad about that?

"Thanks," he said out loud. Looking at Roxas's unexpectedly sleeping body, he thought to ask something else. "Is he all right?"

"Roxas will be fine," she said. "He's just tired. Let him get some rest."

"Okay," he said. Somehow, he got Roxas back into the dorm and changed into his sleeping clothes. He didn't remember doing it, but obviously, he'd managed. Once they were ready, he laid Roxas out on their shared bed. As he pulled the blanket up to cover Roxas's body, Axel realized that he was wearing his sleeping clothes, too. Well, he _had _been excused from class, and a nap did sound nice. He climbed into the bed with Roxas, his earlier unease forgotten. Sleep was about to claim him when he remembered something.

Roxas had said he'd been dreaming about him. Something about two of him, and jibberish.

"I wonder what you dreamed about?" he murmured. As he closed his eyes, the last thing he saw was the vibrant yellow of Roxas's hair.

_That __**hair**_.

_Axel was amazed that anyone had bothered training Roxas for stealth. He stood out in any crowd, trim and handsome, and that hair- solid gold spun into delicate fluff. Okay, he was getting weird. But seriously, he could spot Roxas's hair anywhere, and so he did. _

_Roxas was seated at the bar in the place they'd agreed to meet. He'd discarded his usual work uniform in favor of an ordinary t-shirt and jeans. To be honest, Axel wasn't sure if he saw or felt him first- Roxas's aura was strong and sweet. He assumed he must be pretty noticeable as well, since before he could so much as shout an impolite greeting, Roxas had glanced over his shoulder and offered him the tiniest of smiles. _

_The gesture made Axel's knees quake with anticipation._

_Mumbling something in German that must have meant some variation on "let's go," Roxas hopped up from the bar and led him outside, allowing his fingers to brush ever-so-slightly against Axel's arm. Axel followed gladly. It was Roxas's turn to make the reservations, so he wasn't quite sure where they were headed. After what felt like hours, they arrived at a pay-by-the-hour place that was seedy even by __**their **__standards. The odor, in particular, defied description._

"_Wow," was all he said. _

_Roxas fumbled through getting the keys from the receptionist- she didn't speak any German. This time around, Roxas was using Manfred Schubert as an alias. It was too stuffy, and didn't suit him. The receptionist gave them both a sleazy wink as they left._

_The room was even more disgusting than the hotel itself. As Roxas stood glittering in the middle of the filth, Axel thought: he's too good for this place. He deserves better than some sleazy terrorist who can only meet him in shitholes. _

_His doubts were silenced when Roxas kissed him._

_Months had passed since their last meeting, in London. Roxas had grown somewhat taller, but Axel was pleased to note that he was nowhere near catching up to Axel himself in height. Their lips met with a fierce desperation, and Axel was just getting ready to demand more when Roxas pulled away. _

"_What?" he asked, hot and confused. "What's wrong?" Roxas pointed to a clock on the wall. The time on the clock wasn't correct- hell, Axel couldn't tell if the thing was still functional at all- but he understood Roxas's message._

_Time was short._

_Axel was not one to be denied, however, and a little external pressure wasn't going to stop him from getting what he wanted._

"_Come on," he muttered forcefully, grabbing at Roxas's hips again. "It's just more reason to hurry up." Roxas swatted his hands away and shook his head forcefully. There was an urgency in his face as he ran over to a duffel bag that had been sitting behind the bed. Reaching inside, he pulled out a thick stack of papers. He beckoned Axel to look at them. Obligingly, Axel shuffled through them, his frown deepening with each new sheet._

"_So someone's keeping track of me," he said, with a shrug he hoped was nonchalant. "It's not the first time. I'm kind of infamous." With a pointed glare, Roxas pointed to the name of the database the data had been taken from._

_The Desmarais Group._

_The name Desmarais was all over the papers on the bed. Desmarais this, Desmarais that. Desmarais Desmarais Desmarais. Axel was familiar with the name- they were an international corporation with roots in every nation in Europe, and probably in the Americas as well. Even though corporate intrigue was not his strength, he knew having such a prominent and well-connected organization gathering information on him was probably bad._

_A knot was settling in his stomach, but for Roxas's sake, he pretended it wasn't there._

"_Aw," he said. "Were you worried about me?"_

_He was answered with a fist to the face._

_Roxas was small, but damn, could that boy punch._

"_Alexei!" he shouted. "This is serious!" _

"_I know, I know," he muttered, massaging his sore nose. "I was just trying to-"_

_Wait._

"_This is what now?" he asked suspiciously._

"_Serious," said Roxas, in heavily accented English, but English nonetheless. Axel watched in total shock as he kept speaking. "You must- eh, I want that- eh, please, Alexei. Be careful," he stumbled. The words were clearly foreign to him, but Roxas fought through them. Axel stood there, mouth agape._

"_Rock," he said. "Why can you speak English now?"_

"_I learned it," he said with a shrug. That smug bastard._

"_Does that mean you've been able to understand everything I say?" Roxas didn't answer, but a slow, devious smile spread across his face. _

_Axel sputtered uselessly._

"_You fucking cocksucker!" he screeched. "All this time I've been trying so hard to communicate with you and- oh, shut your stupid mouth!" Roxas was laughing openly now. Well, at least one of them was having a good time._

_It occurred to Axel that if Roxas could speak and understand basic English, he could ask him questions about the records he'd found. Obviously they were important to Roxas._

"_Where did you get those records?" he said, indicating the papers in Roxas's lap. Roxas's expression instantly darkened._

"_I found them," he said. "During other work. The Desmarais Group has many- eh- eh- people who do not like them," he finished._

"_Enemies?"_

"_Feinde," he said, with a smile of mutual understanding. _

"_One corporation isn't enough to worry me, Rock," Axel said gently. _

"_They have a lot of information," Roxas said stubbornly. "They- eh- search you! Search after you!"_

"_No one hunts Alexei Gorodetsky."_

"_You are so stupid," Roxas muttered._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Don't worry about me, Rock," Axel said. "I'll be ok." Roxas looked thoroughly unconvinced. He crossed his arms like a petulant child and glared up at Axel's face._

_In a moment, though, his expression softened. He bit his lip, as if concentrating very hard on something he was trying to remember. When he spoke, it was with heavily practiced diction, as if he had rehearsed ahead of time._

"_Alexei," he said. "If anything happened to you, I would die." _

_Axel was surprised by the words, as close to a heartfelt confession as he'd ever been given by anyone. He and Roxas didn't talk, after all. They'd been having sex on the down-low for nearly a year, but not once had it occurred to Axel to think about what Roxas, you know, __**meant **__to him. So, he looked forward to seeing Roxas more than anything else in the world and Roxas was the best and he was always totally captivated even though until recently they couldn't even talk and stuff, but did he really have to put __**words **__to it? _

_Ok, so, he just wasn't good with feelings or sentimentality. For fuck's sake, he'd killed everyone in his home town! He said the first words that came to mind._

"_Don't worry, Rock," he said, with a cocky smile. "I won't let you die."_

_Roxas looked like steam was going to come out his ears._

"_You are so stupid!" he snapped again. Apparently he hadn't spent much time learning English insults, because he muttered something else, undoubtedly much more severe, in German. Axel realized he'd said the exact wrong thing, so he tried again._

"_No- it's not- I mean, I don't want anything to happen to you, either," he stumbled, and he tried to give Roxas a hug. Roxas swatted him away._

"_Go," he said. "They know you are in this city." He paused. "Be careful."_

"_The next time we see each other, I hope your English is even better," Axel murmured, and this time, when he pulled Roxas into an embrace, he wasn't pushed away. They kissed one last time- it was short, painfully short- and Axel headed for the door._

"_You're staying?" he asked, when Roxas didn't follow._

"_Manfred Schubert wants to sleep," he shrugged. _

Axel woke up, hot and sweaty, with Roxas pressed up against his body. He was aware that his own arm was wrapped around Roxas's middle to keep him as close as possible. Roxas's sleep was undisturbed.

What a weird dream.

"_Are there two of you?" _That was what Roxas had asked him, and now, Axel almost understood what he meant. The boy in his dream had looked like Roxas, sure, but that hadn't been Roxas. His voice was different, for one. He could understand how someone as confused as Roxas would get someone in a dream who looked like Axel confused with the actual Axel, though.

Knowing what had had Roxas so upset earlier, and that it wasn't a big deal at all, comforted Axel's mind. As he drifted back off to sleep, most of the strange dream faded away. One thing stayed, though. The look on the dream-Roxas's face as he had said:

"_If anything happened to you, I would die." _

Axel was warm inside as he fell asleep, his face buried in Roxas's golden hair.

* * *

RE: Commenters who mentioned pronouncing Erased like Erised, you're totally thinking of the mirror from Harry Potter. WHICH IS THE WORD 'DESIRE' SPELLED BACKWARDS. DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND.

Speaking of blowing minds, my beta recently texted me "OMG did you know that all the Saiyans are named after vegetables?" and I was like "Um, duh, their home planet is named Vegeta" and she was like "...Oh." Poor, poor beta. She's the one who came up with the title "Erased," after convincing me that Chapter 1 wasn't bullshit and that I should totally post it. Also, her mom just had surgery, so if you have good vibes to spare and you're into that sort of thing, send them in the direction of the good state of Texas.

They know where you live now, Beta. Watch out.

During my sort-of break from KH fanfiction, I wrote all kinds of (read: two) SasuNaru porno fics that are also on my ffnet profile, if you are into that sort of thing. Yep, I'm a Narutard now. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, COULD SOMEONE PLEASE RESCUE CAPTAIN YAMATO? SERIOUSLY, I AM ABOUT TO START A CAMPAIGN ABOUT THIS SHIT. ALSO, NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS, KABUTO. NO ONE CARES.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Whose back story is your favorite? Well, I guess you don't know all of them yet. So, of the people whose back stories we know, whose is your favorite? Whose would you like to know more about? Everyone who answers "Riku, specifically because of the werewolf orgy" gets a cookie.


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